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HISTORY 



Town of Kings Bridge 

NOW PART OF THE 24TH WARD 
NEW YORK CITY 

WITH MAP AND INDEX 



BY 

THOMAS H. EDSALL 

MEMBER OF THE N. Y. HISTORICAL SOCIETY 



NEW YORK CITY 
Privately Printed 

1887 



king's bridge. 



an intermediate one, having their axes parallel with 
the Palisades of New Jersey, and a direction north- 
northeast. 1. Spuyten Duyvil Ridge, from Yonkers 
city line to Spuyten Duyvil Creek, and between the 
Hudson on the west and Tippett's Brook ^ on the east. 
Greatest elevation, two hundred and eighty-two feet,'- 
oa land of Frederick GoodridgejRiverdale. 2. Valen- 
tine's Ridge, from Yonkers line to West Farms line, 
and between the Bronx ^ on the east and Tippett's 
Brook on the west. Greatest elevation, two hundred 
and forty feet, near Woodlawn Heights. 3. Van 
Cortlandt Ridge, intermediate, from Yonkers line to 
Vault Hill, between Tipi)ett's Brook on the east and 
its main branch on the west. Greatest elevation, two 
hundred feet, near Yonkers city line. 

Tippett's Brook, the main stream, rises in Yonkers, 
flows southwesterly until it forms Van Cortlandt 
Lake,'' below which it is a tidal stream to its outlet into 
Spuyten Duyvil Creek. About twenty lesser brooks, 
varying in length from five hundred to ten thousand 
feet, flow into the Hudson, the Bronx and Tinjiett's 
Brook. 

The geological formations are very ancient, consist- 



1 So called after George Tippett, an early settler and proprietor, and of 
late corrupted into Tibbitt's Brook. Its Indian name was Mosholu. It 
has also been known as Mill Creek and Yonkers River. , 

2 The highest ground within the limits of New York City. The eleva- 
tion of Fort Washington, the greatest on Manhattan Island, is two hun- 
dred and sixty-four feet. 

3 So called after Jonas Bronck, the earliest white settler and proprietor 
of "Bronck's Land," now Jlorrisania, Twenty-third Ward, New York. 

* An artificial poud, formed by Jacobus Van Cortlandt, circum 1700, b 
damming Tippett's Brook. 

2 



king's bridge. 



ing mainly of micaceous gneiss or granite, Hhe former 
largeiypreponderating, the exposed surfaces indicat- 
ing subjection to intense heat and pressure, witli so great 
displacement that the strata are nearly vertical, out- 
cropping in numerous parallel ledges, not continuous, 
but en echelon, and giving steep inclination to hill- 
sides. A coarse, crystallized limestone ^ of varying 
hardness, ranging about north-northeast, crops out at 
King's Bridge and on the Whiting and Delafield 
estates, Spuyten Duyvil Ridge. On the latter ridge 
the surface of the primary rocks is strewn with trap 
boulders. 

Discovery. — The earliest known visitor to this lo- 
cality was Henry Hudson. Going up the river which 
bears his name, he skirted its westerly shore Septem- 
ber 13, 1609, and, on his return, was attacked, Oc- 
tober 2d, from Shorack-Kappock, the Indian name of 
Spuyten Duyvil Point,^ and the kill or creek at its 

base. 

Indiaks.— The Indian name of this section was 
Weckquaeskeek,— ' the birch-bark country,"— and its 
residents were known to the first settlers as Wickers- 



1 Affording building-stone of fine quality. Before 1750 quarries of 
"broken stone " were worked on Spuvten Duyvil Ridge, the whole ex- 
tent of which is scarred by them. The large quarries at Spuyten Duyvil 
Point were worked until about 1850. 

2 Known as King's Bridge Murhle. It was extensively quarried early in 
the century on the northerly end of Manhattan Island. Perkins Nich- 
olls had a marble-sawing mill at "Dyckman's Cut" (which was exca- 
vated to supply power to this mill by the ebb and flow of the tide), and 
another at the King's Bridge. On the banks of the Hudson, along the 
base of Spuyten Duyvil Ridge, were several kilns for making lime 
from this stone, all of which have been disused for many years. 

3 According to tradition, the natives had a castle or stronghold on the 

point. 

3 



king's bridge. 



Greek ladians. In person they were tolerably stout. 
Their hair was worn shorn to a coxcomb on top, with 
a long lock depending on one side. They wore bea- 
ver and other skins, with the fur inside in winter and 
outside in summer, and also coats of turkey feathers. 
They were valiant warriors. "Yea," says De Vries, 
" they say they are Manetto — the devil himself! '' 
Their leading sachems, at the advent of white set- 
tlers, were Tequemet, Eechgawac and Packamiens, from 
whom the Dutch director, Kieft, purchased, in Au- 
gust, 1639, the tract Keskeskick. This tribe gradually 
dwindled, until its remnant finally disappeared be- 
fore the end of the eighteenth century. 

First Settlement. — The earliest white resident 
and proprietor was Dr. Adraien Van der Donck, yMns 
utriusque doctor, of Leyden. He had been sheriff of 
the Colonic of Rensselaerswyck since 1641. Having 
aided Director Kieft in negotiating an important In- 
dian treaty at Fort Orange, Albany, the latter 
granted him, in 1645, a large tract on the Nep- 
perhaem River, Yonkers, where he built a saw-mill,^ 
laid out farms and plantations and "had actually re- 
solved to continue." But that indispensable requi- 
site of a Dutch farm, salt meadow, was lacking. In 
search of this. Van der Donck found, about a mile 
above the tvading-place (King's Bridge) " a flat, with 
some convenient meadows about it," which he 
promptly secured by purchase from the Indians and 
a further grant from Kieft. His new acquisition in- 
cluded the area under consideration, extending from 



'Hence the name of "Saw Kill," by which this stream became 
known. 

4 



KING S BRIDGE. 



the Hudson to the Bronx, and from the Spuyteu Duy- 
vil Creek to the Nepperhaem tract. Here he located 
his bowerie, or home-farm, with its " planting-field," 
and near the latter he had already begun the erection 
of his house, before going to Holland, in 1649, as the 
representative of the commonalty of New Amster- 
dam. Van der Donck's " planting-field " was on the 
plain or flat of the Van Cortlandt estate, lying be- 
tween Broadway and the'present lake, and extending 
up to' the southerly end of Vault Hill.^ It is prob- 
able that his house was on the flat, and'located, per- 
haps, where the old house of Jacobus Van Cortlandt 
afterwards stood until the early part of this century.^ 
While absent in Holland, Van der Donck's 
lands were erected into the fief or Colonic of Nepper- 
haem (or, as he called it after his own name, Colen- 
donck), and he was made its patroon. Pursuant to 
the " Freedoms and Exemptions," he sent out to it, 
from Holland, a number of colonists with supplies of 
farming stock and implements. In 1652 he was about 
to return to his colonic, and had already embarked 
his wife, mother, brother and sister, with an ample 
stock of goods, when the West India Company pre- 
vented his departure.^ During his detention he got 

1 It may have also stretched eastward across the brook and beyond 
the site of the present lake. 

2 Its site was just behind the present grove of locusts, north of the Van 
Cortlandt Blills. 

3 Van der Donck bad so well accomplished his mission on behalf of 
the oppressed commonalty as to procure from the States General their 
mandate, recalling Stuyvesant to Holland, of which he was made the 
bearer. But the States being on the eve of war with England, and need- 
ing the assistance of the rich and powerful West India Company, the 
latter was enabled to not only procure the revocation of Stuyvesant's re- 
call, but to detain its bearer in Holland. 

5 



king's bridge. 



word that some "land-greedy" persons were squat- 
ting on his lands. He appealed to the company to 
protect his possession of the " flat and meadows;" also 
for leave to return to them, which was withheld until 
1653. In the summer of that year he sailed for Nieuw 
Netherland, arriving in the autumn, and repaired to 
his bowerie. He did not long survive his return, dy- 
ing in 1654 or 1655. The latter was the year of the 
Indian massacre, when all the surviving settlers about 
Nieuw Amsterdam fled to the fort for protection. It 
is probable that Van der Donck's bowerie was de- 
serted and destroyed. In August, Stuyvesant granted 
to a Cornells Van der Donck a parcel of about fifty 
morgens, on the north side of Manhattan Island, "by 
the savages called Muscoote, or a flat [anders eeii 
vlacte)," and as much meadow or hay land as was 
given to other boweries. This may have referred to 
the late Dr. Van der Donck's bowerie, but no further 
mention has been found of the grantee or his connec- 
tion with this tract. 

After the patroon's death his widow joined her 
father, the Rev. Francis Doughty, in " the Virgin- 
ias," where she became the wife of Hugh O'Neale, of 
Patuxent, Maryland. 

The province had passed under English rule, and 
nearly ten years had elapsed since the death of her 
first husband before Mrr. O'Neale took any steps to 
reclaim the Yonkers estate. On the 21st of Septem- 
ber, 1666, she and O'Neale went before Governor 
Nicoll and his Council, accompanied by several In- 
dians, who had formerly owned the lands. The latter 
made acknowledgment of their sales to the late pa- 

6 



KING S BRIDGE. 



troon,^ and on the 8th of October a grant of the whole 
estate was made to O'Neale and wife. On the 30th 
they assigned their patent to Elias Doughty, of 
Flushing, L! I., a brother of Mrs. O'Neale, probably 
for convenience of sale, on account of their residing 
at a distance. 

The first to purchase from Doughty was John 
Archer, or Jan Arcer, as he signed his name. He was 
the son of Jan Aarsen, from NieuwhofF, who was nick- 
named by the Dutch Koop-al (buy-all), and the son 
was known as Jan Koop-al, the younger. He had 
long resided at Oost Dorp (now Westchester). In 
March and September, 1667, he bought about one 
hundred and twenty acres of upland and thirty acres 
of meadow, near the " wading-place." On the up- 
land, just across the meadow from Paparinamin, he 
founded the village of Fordham. It had the counte- 
nance and protection of the Governor, being '•' in a 
" convenient place for the relief of strangers, it being 
" the road for passengers to go to and fro the maine, 
" as well as for mutual intercourse with the neighbor- 
" ing colony." The village consisted of about a dozen 
houses in an extended line, along the base of Tetard's 
Hill, crossed at the middle by the "old Westchester 
path" (Albany post road), leading up over the hill 
towards Connecticut. No traces of these old habita- 
tions remain. Two years later Archer acquired all 



1 Of " a certain parcel of land upon the niaine, not farre from West- 
'• Chester, commonly called ye Younckers Land." They declared its bounds 
to be "from a place called Macaclcesin at y<= north, so to come to Neperan 
" and to ye Kill Sorquapp, then to MuKkota and Pappereneman to ye south 
"and crosse ye countrey to ye eastward of Bronckx his River and 
" Land." 

7 



king's bridge. 



the land southerly to High Bridge, lying between the 
Harlem and Bronx, which was erected into his Manor 
of Fordham in 1671. The north line of this ancient 
manor from the Harlem to the Bronx, being the south 
line of the O'Neale patent,^ became one of the south- 
erly boundaries of the town of King's Bridge. Archer 
lived and ruled at Fordham in frequent contention 
with his tenants and neighbors until his death, in 
1684. During the Dutch re-occupation, in 1673-74, 
his government was suspended, and the inhabitants 
of Fordham nominated their own magistrates; but on 
the return of the English, in the latter year, Archer 
resumed his sway. In 1679 he was sheriff of New 
York. At his death the manor was so heavily mort- 
gaged to the wealthy Dutchman, Cornells Steenwyck, 
that his heirs could not redeem it. By Steenwyck's 
will it was devised to the "Nether Dutch Reformed 
Congregation," in New York, for the support of their 
minister. 

1 Notwithstanding the patent for the Manor of Fordham recited that it 
was part of the land " granted in the Grand Patent to llngh O'Nea'e & 
Mary, his wife ; " also that " purchase was made thereof by John Archer 
from Elyas Doughty, who was invested in their interest, as also of the 
ludyan Proprietors, &c.," it is impossible, by any interpretation of the 
boundaries in the O'Neale Patent to make them extend below the north 
line of the manor. There is no record of any deed from Doiightj' to 
Archer of land south of that line. The writer is of opinion that Archer, 
conniving with the Governor or Secretary NicoU, advanced this claim 
of title through Van der Donck's successors, in oBder to forestall claims 
to the trac' which might have been otherwise established. Such claims 
were preferred early in the following century by Quimby against the 
Dutch Church, which then owned it, and about 1750 a brief on behalf of 
the church in an ejectment suit sets out with a recital of a copy of an 
unrecorded deed from Doughty to Archer, on which, however, cotinsel 
was not instructed to rely. The only proper basis of Archer's title was 
his purchase from the " Indj-an Proprietors." 
8 



king's bridgk. 



William Belts and George Tippett, his son-in-law, 
next purchased from Doughty (deed, July 6, 1668), 
about two thousand acres, extending across from the 
Hudson to. the' Bronx, south of an east and west line 
which went along the north side of "Van der Donck's 
planting-field." This line struck the Hudson about 
three hundred feet south of Thorn's dock, and the 
Bronx about five hundred feet south of the Yonkers 
city line, and the purchase included all south of it, ex- 
cepting Paparinamin, for which Tippett received a sep- 
arate " deed of gift " from Doughty. It included " that 
piece where formerly the old Van der Donck's house 
stood," and what are now Spuyten Duyvil, Hudson 
Park, Mosholu, Van Cortlandt's, Olaff Park, Wood- 
lawn Heights and Woodlawn Cemetery. Betts and 
Tippett obtained from Governor Lovelace, February 
20, 1671, a patent which contained a proviso that it 
should no way iirejudice '.' the New towne of ftbrd- 
ham," nor what had been done by his order towards 
its settlement. 

Mr. Betts was an Englishman, and by trade a turn- 
er. He was at Scituate, Mass., in 1635, four years 
after which he married Alice, a " maiden of the Bay," 
who bore him several children. With his minister, 
Lothrop, he removed to Barnstable, and thence came 
to C<jnnecticut. In 1662 he lived at Cost Dorp, where 
he was a magistrate by appointment of Stuyvesant. 
He was named as a patentee in the English patent 
for the town of Westchester, granted in 1668. The 
same year he removed to his new plantation in the 
Yonkers, and the next year became overseer of the 
court at Fordham. He died in 1675, survived by his 
wife, Alice, sons, Samuel, Hopestill and John, a 

9 



KING'S BRIDGE. 



daughter, Mehitable, wife of George Tippett, and a 
grandson, John Barrett, son of a deceased daughter, 
Hannah, who had married Samuel Barrett, of West- 
chester. Descendants of the name of Betts con- 
tinued to own portions of the ancestral acres until 
the early part of this century. 

Mr. Tippett was at Flushing in August, 1667, when 
he gave in his name to the Governor " to be ready to 
serve his Majesty " on all occasions. While he lived 
in the Yonkers the swine of the New Harlem people 
used to run at large at the upper end of Manhattan 
Island, and sometimes straying across the loading- 
place at low tide, failed to return. Tippett would be 
charged with their detention and the whole community 
hauled into court as witnesses. Tippett's "ear-mark " 
for his own swine was said to be " the cutting of their 
ears so close that any other marks might be cut off by 
it." Mr. Tippett died intestate in 1675, survived by 
his wife, Mehitable (afterward married to Lewis Vit- 
rey and Samuel Hitchcock), a son George, perhaps a 
son Henry, and a daughter Mehitable (who was mar- 
ried first to Joseph Hadley and second to John 
Concklin). Descendants of his name held portions of 
the estate until the Revolutionary War. 

" Tippett's Hill " was the name of Spuyten 
Duyvil Neck during the same period,' and the princi- 
pal stream of the Yonkers has always been called 
after him, although corrupted into "Tibbits" in recent 
times. 



' Known after the Revolution and until receat'y as "Berrien's Neck," 
after an owner who married Dorcas Tippett, a great-great-gmnddaughter 
of the first George. 

10 



KING S BRIDGE. 

John Hadden ' made the next purchase from 
Doughty. His deed of June 7, 1668, antedates that 
of Betts and Tippett, but bounds on land already 
sold to them.' It conveys three parcels aggregating 
three hundred and twenty acres, lying directly north 
of Van der Donck's planting-field and extending 
across from the Albany post road to the road to Mile 
Square. The Van Cortlandt estate now includes the 
whole of it. For two hundred acres Hadden gave a 
horse and for the remainder five pounds ! In Decem- 
ber, 1668, Betts sold to Hadden twenty-four acres 
adjoining his " house in the old field." 

Mr. Hadden was a carpenter by trade. He settled 
in the Yonkers with his sons-in-law, George Cleving- 
er and William Smith, and in 1672 he was made over- 
seer of the village of Fordham. His sons-in-law dy- 
ing a few years later, Mr. Hadden sold out and re- 
turned to Westchester, where he and his descendants 
were respected citizens. 

Doughty next sold the remainder of the O'Neale 
patent (excepting " Mile Square," already disposed 
of) to Thomas Delavall, Fredryk Flypsen and Thomas 
Lewis.^ It was conveyed to them November 9, 1672, 
by purchase from Delavall, and theheirsof Lewis Flyp- 
sen subsequently acquired their interests. The tract 

1 In early records and MSS this name is sometimes written "Heddy," 
" Hedger," etc. 

- This was probably the sale for which Mrs. O'Neale " received a good 
part of her payment in horees and mares/' with which she was about to 
" return home into Maryland, ye place of her abode ; " but hearing re- 
port of a prohibition against importing horses to that colony, she pro- 
cured a letter to its Governor from Governor Lovelace, of New York, 
asking a dispensation from the rigor of the late order in her case so as to 
permit her to dispose of her horses in 3Iaryland to her best advantage. 
U 



KING S BRIDGE. 



contained about eight thousand acres. Eiverdale, 
Mount St. Vincent and a part of Woodlawn Heights 
are located on the southerly part of this purchase. 

Mr. Flypsen was a carpenter by trade. He came 
to Nieiiw Amsterdam in Stuyvesant's time, under an 
engagement with the West India Company for five 
years, during which time he worked on the forts at 
Nieuw Amsterdam and Esopus. He married, in 1662, 
Margaret Hardenbrook, widow of Peter Rudolphus de 
Vries, a successful trader. Margaret was also en- 
gaged in trade, which she continued after this mar- 
riage, going to and from Holland as supercargo of 
her own vessels, in one of which, the " Charles," she 
brought over the Labadists, in 1679. By her " for- 
tune, thrift and enterprise" and his exertions, Mr. 
Flypsen became the richest man in the colony. 
After the death of Margaret he married, in 1692, 
Catherine Van Cortlandt, widow of John Dervall 
and daughter of Olaf Stevenszen Van Cortlandt, by 
whom he received further additions to his wealth. 
Mr. Flypsen purchased other large tracts of land in 
Westchester County. In 1693 he procured the erec- 
tion of the whole into the Manor of Phillipsburgh, 
in which the "island Paparinamin " was included. 
The old manor-house is now the city hall in Yonkers. 
For twenty years Mr. Flypsen was a member of the 
Council. He died in 1702, aged seventy-six, survived 
by a son Adolphus, a daughter Annetje, wife of Philip 
French, an adopted daughter Eva, wife of Jacobus 
Van Cortlandt, and a grandson Frederick (son of his 
deceased son Frederick,) to whom he devised the 
Yonkers plantation. 

The Ferry. — Soon after the village of Fordham 



king's bridge. 



was settled the people of New Harlem tried to divert 
eastern travel from the wading-place to the new ferry 
they had set up between New Harlem and Bronx-land. 
They obstructed the banks at Spuyten Duyvil ^ with 
fences, but travelers threw them down and still crossed 
at the ancient ford without paying toll. In the sum- 
mer of 1669 the ferry was removed to Spuyten Duyvil, 
" a nearer and more convenient passage to and from 
the island and the Maine, " and Johannes Verveelen 
was made ferryman. There was allotted to his use 
the " island or neck of land Paparinamin, " where he 
was required to provide a dwelling-house furnished 
with three or four good beds for the entertainment of 
strangers ; also provisions at all seasons for them, their 
horses and cattle, with stabling and stalling ; also a 
suflScient and able boat to transport passengers, horses 
and cattle on all occasions.- A causeway was also 



This curious appellation, whose origin has never been satisfactorily 
explained, seems to have been applied to a strip of shore on the Manhat- 
tan Island Bide of the wading-place, then to the crossing itself and the 
creek leading therefrom to the Hudson, and finally to the neck which 
still retains it. It means "spouting devil," and may have arisen from 
some peculiar vxihnn-t of water as the tide ruthed ever the reef which 
obstructs the channel at that point. Mr. Riker has ingeniously sug- 
gested the outpour from the guns of the " Half-Moon ;" also the gushing 
spring under Cock Hill ; but the explanation inlrving's quaint and humor- 
ous legend of the ' Trumpeter' will ever meet with popular acceptance. 
2 " Ye Ferryman— His Ratis. 

" For lodging any person, 8 pence per night, in case they have a bed 
with sheets ; and without sheets, 2 pence in silver. 

"For transportation of any person, 1 penny silver. 

"For transportation of a man and horse, 7 pence in silver. 

" For a single horse, 6 pence. 

" For a turn with his boat, for 2 horses, 10 pence ; and for any more 
4 pence apiece ; and if they be driven over, half as much. 

"For single cattle, as much asa horse. 
13 



KING S BRIDGE. 



required to be built across the meadow from Paparin- 
amin to Fordham, of which Verveelen was to bear 
one-third of the expense and Fordham the remain- 
der. Archer called on Betts, Tippett and Hadden to 
help him build his share of the " causey." They de- 
murred, being more interested in having a bridpe 
made over the Bronx to East Chester. The dispute 
came before the Governor, who decided that Betts, 
Tippett and Hadden should first aid with the cause- 
way,^ and then the Fordham people should help them 
build the bridge. For so doing the ferry was made 
free to Betts, Tippett and Hadden. Verveelen kept 
the ferry many years and was succeeded by his son 
Daniel, who was ferryman until the erection of the 
King's Bridge. 

During the last quarter of the seventeenth century 
the Betts, Tippett and Hadden families, and those 
who had intermarried with them, and their retainers 
and servants composed all the population of the Yonk- 
ers outside of Fordham and Paparinamin. Their homes 
were grouped about a mile north of Fordham, where 
they had a " good and strong block-house." - During 
King Philip's War, in 1775, there were fears of an 
Indian outbreak in this colony. Archer summoned 
Betts, Tippett and Hadden to aid him in the fortifi- 
cation and defense of Fordham. They remonstrated 



" For a boat loading of cattle, as he hath for horses. 
" For droves of cattle to be driven over, and opening y« gates, 2 pence p. 
piece. 
" For feeding of cattle, 3 pence in silver. 
" For feeding a horse one day or night with hay or grasse, 6 pence." 

1 This causeway was on the line of the present McComb Street. 

2 They probably stood in the neighborhood of the jn-esent Van Cort- 
landt mansion. 

14 



KING S BRIDGE. 



before Governor Andros that they should not " bee 
bound to leave their houses and goods and to please 
the humours of the said Mr. Archer, thereby perhaps 
to lose all what they have." The Governor excused 
them from work on the defenses of Fordham, but he 
warned them to "be vigilant at their own place and 
keep watch upon all occasions." 

The King's Bridge. — The increasing travel between 
New York and " the Maine " demanded a bridge in 
place of the ferry. As early as 1680 the Council of 
Governor Andros had ordered " Spiting Devil " to be 
viewed with reference to a bridge there. A bill to 
erect one was introduced in the Assembly in 1691. 
The next year Governor Fletcher recommended its 
construction by the city of New York, but the mu- 
nicipal authorities were deterred from the undertak- 
ing by the "great expense." In January, 1693, Fred- 
ryck Flypsen offered to build one at his own expense, 
if he could have certain " easy and reasonable toles." ^ 
In June the franchise was granted to Mr. Flypsen for 
ninety-nine years. The bridge was to be twenty-four 
feet wide, and to be free for all the King's forces, and 
was to be named the " King's Bridge." It was built 
during the year, a few rods east of the present one."'' 

It had a draw for the passage of such craft as navi- 
gated the Harlem and a gate, set up at the end, where 



1 To wit: "1 pennj- for each head of neat cattell ; 2 pens for each 
"mann and horse, and 12 pens for each score of hoggs and sheep tliat 
" shall pass the said brige ; and 9 pens for every boat, vessell or canoo 
" that shall pass the said brige. and cause the same to be drawne up." 

2 The removal to its present site was made pursuant to an act of As- 
sembly passed in 1713 at the petition of Flypsen's grandson, Frederick 
Phillipse, then a minor. 

15 



king's bridge. 



the keeper received the tolls.^ A public-house was 
kept open at the north side for the " entertainment of 
strangers." The bridge was owned by Mr. Flypsen's 
grandson and great-grandson, in succession, until it 
was forfeited by the latter. Colonel Frederick Phil- 
lipse, because of his adhesion to the crown in the war 
of independence. 

During the first half of the eighteenth century 
the Yonkers was sparsely peopled. Jacobus Van 
Cortlandt bought a plot of fifty acres, known as 
" George's Point," - from Mr. Flypsen, in 1699, and 
added to it several hundred acres while he lived, 
forming the bulk of the present Van Cortlandt estate. 
He made a mill-pond by damming up the Tippett's 
Brook, and setup a grist and saw-mill. In 1704 there 
were about twenty families in the Yonkers. The 
Betts and Tippett families partitioned their tract in 
1717, and gradually sold it off' to new settlers. Agri- 
culture was the chief industry, and the farms were 
noted for choice fruits and fine breeds of cattle. 
Produce was carried to market in periaugers. Scone 
quarrying was engaged in before the middle of the 
century. 

The main highways were the Albany and Boston 
post roads — the former opened to the Saw-kill about 
16(39, and the latter opened on the line of the Old 
"Westchester Path to East Chester about 1671. The 
travel by land was almost wholly on horseback. The 

1 Madame Knight, crossing December, 1704, enroute to Boston, was 
charged three pence "for passing over with a horse." 

2 So called after George Tippett (id), who conveyed it. in 1091, to his 
brother-in-law, Joseph Hadley. He sold to Matthias Buckout, who con- 
veyed to Mr. Flypsen. 

16 



KIKG'S BRIDGE. 



common roads were very poor. The mail to 
Albany was carried by foot-post. That to Boston was 
taken by post- riders once in three weeks, which time 
was shortened" in 1731 to once a fortnight. The stage- 
coach to Boston began running in 1772. 

The Feee Bridge. — The King's Bridge was unpop- 
ular because of its tolls ; also its barrier gate,which made 
the belated traveler furious as he shouted to awaken 
the drowsy gate-keeper several rods away. A popular 
subscription was started in 1756 for building a free 
bridge. Benjamin Palmer^ headed the movement, 
and when enough was subscribed, he attempted to 
build it where the first bridge had stood. Colonel 
Phillipse, who owned the shore on Paparinamin, 
naturally objected. Palmer had to go farther down 
the Harlem. He interested with him Jacob Dyck- 
man, on the island, and Thomas Vermilye, on the 
Westchester side, and they began the work from land 
of the former to that of the latter. Colonel Phillipse, 
" because he knew it would stop his bridge from tak- 
ing tolls," tried to prevent its construction. Twice in 
one year he caused Palmer's impressment " as a 
soldier to go to Canada," whicb compelled him to 
employ and pay for substitutes. But in spite of oppo- 
sition the structure was completed at the close of 
1758. It was opened with a grand barbecue on New 
Year's Day, 1759, and hundreds of people attended 
from New York City and Westchester County, and 
" rejoiced greatly." ^ A new road was built to connect 

1 Who attempted to fouiul a city as a rival to New York, on an island 
in the Sound, since called "City Island." 

" Dyckman, who built a tavern at the approach to the free bridge 

(where the King's Bridge Hotel now stands), failed soon afterward, and 

17 



KING'S BEIDGE. 



the bridge with the Albany and Boston roads, and for a 
time all travel ceased across the King's Bridge. 
Colonel Phillipse's bridge-keeper finding his occupa- 
tion gone, threw up his lease, and the proprietor had 
to advertise for a new tenant. It is probable that 
attempts to collect tolls were abandoned soon after- 
wards. 

In 1763 the Eev. John Peter Tetard purchased from 
Petrus Vermilye a farm of sixty acres, near King's 
Bridge, lying on the old Boston road, to which he 
removed about three years later. In 1772 he opened 
there a French boarding-school, probably the first in 
New York, where, besides French, he taught " the 
most useful sciences, such as geography, the doctrine 
of the spheres, ancient and modern history, etc." The 
house was destroyed during the Revolution. The old 
stone archway yet standing near its site is variously 
called " Dominie Tetard's Wine Cellar," the old 
" powder magazine," the " old bakery," etc., but its 
real purpose is unknown.' 



sought legislative relief for his outlays in its construction. Palmer, 
towards the end of the century, unsuccessfully applied to the Assembly 
for aid on the same account. The press took up his cause and declared 
that his work had been " the first step towards freedom inthis State, * * * 
"for it was almost as difficult for Mr. Palmer to get a free bridge in 
"those days as it was for America to get her freedom." Aaron Burr 
and others made up a purse of £30 for the needy old man in 1800. 

1 Dominie Tetard was born in Switzerland about 1721; graduated from 
University of Lausanne and received ordination about 1752 ; soou after 
was pastor of French Church, Charleston, S. C; came to New York 1756 ; 
married Frances, daughter of Robert Ellison ; became assistant pastor 
of Church du St. Esprit, taking charge 1764-66, until a new minister 
could be engaged in Europe. After his removal to King's. Bridge he used 
to preach in Fordham Dutch Church. He was commissioned .July G, 1775, 
■ French interpreter to Geneial Schuyler and chaplain to the troops in 
18 



king's bridge. 



Across the Boston road from Tetard's farm was one of 
about seventy-five acres, which Richard Montgomery 
purchased and occupied in 1772, pursuant to his long- 
cherished wish 'to leave the service and engage in 
husbandry.^ His house stood on the brow of the hill, 
near the Boston road," and there he lived until his 
marriage to Janet Livingston and removal to another 
farm he had purchased near Rhinebeck.^ The King's 
Bridge farm was devised to his sister Sarah .Viscountess 
Ranelagh, by the will found by Arnold among his 
papers at Quebec, a few days after his untimely 
death. Fort Independence was erected on this farm, 
a few hundred yards north of the house which, with 
the out-buildings, orchards, fences, etc., was com- 
pletely destroyed during the Revolution. 

The Revolutiok. — The inhabitants of the Yonk- 
ers were generally opposed to all efforts of the British 
ministry to establish arbitrary government in the 
colonies. Colonel Phillipse sided with the crown 
and tried to control his tenants. At their head, 
he was present at the meeting held at the White 
Plains, April 11, 1775, to appoint deputies to a conven- 
tion ; but he declined "to have anything to do with 



the Colonie," with pay of major, and went with General Montgomery to 
Canada. He served as chaplain during the war, and on the reorganiza- 
tion of Columbia College, in 1784, was made professor of French, 
and so continued until his death, December 6, 1787, in his sixty-sixth 
year. 

' So declared in a letter shortly prior to his resignation. He meant to 
come to America, "where his pride and poverty would be much more at 
their ease." 

- A little way inside of the gateway of Mr. William Ogden Giles. 

^New York Gazetteer, October 7, 1773, contains his advertisement of the 
King's Bridge farm " at private sale." 
19 



king's bridge. 



deputies or congresses." After protesting against 
" such, illegal and unconstitutional proceedings," he 
led ofF his followers. Colonel James A^an Cortlandt 
and his brother Frederick, of the Yonkers, heartily 
favored resistance. 

The news from Lexington was shouted at every 
threshold along the old Boston road in the night of 
April 22d, as the herald spurred on towards New 
York. A few days later the inhabitants were aiding 
to unload, at King's Bridge and the hills beyond, 
upward of one hundred cannon,^ which had been carted 
out from the city for security. On the 8th of May the 
new committee for Westchester County, on which 
Frederick Van Cortlandt represented the Yonkers, 
chose Colonel James Van Cortlandt as deputy to the 
new Provincial Congress, and he attended its first 
meeting at the exchange in Broad Street. 

The importance of maintaining communication by 
land between New York and the country so impressed 
the Continental Congress that it resolved, on May 
25th, that a post should be immediately taken and 
fortified at King's Bridge. On the 30th the Pro- 
vincial Congress appointed a committee of five, in- 
cluding Captain Richard Montgomery and Colonel 
James Van Cortlandt to view the ground near the 
bridge and report whether it would admit of a tenable 
fortification. Their report of June 3d favored a post 
for three hundred men on the hill adjoining Hyatt's 
tavern, but recommended no form or dimensions and 
thought it imprudent to fortify until the embodi- 

• Compensation to the heirs of Sebring and Beeknian, for certain of 
these guns, was provided for by an act of the Legislature, passed in 
1800. 

20 



KING S BRIDGE. 



ment of troops, who could do most of the labor. 
Commanding points on Tippett's and Tetard's Hills 
were suggested for additional works. On the spots 
thus indicated, forts were afterwards erected by the 
Americans, and when captured by the British, were 
strengthened and garrisoned by them for many years.' 
Colonel Van Cortlandt was a member of the com- 
mittee of the Provincial Congress to arrange the troops 
and form the militia. Frederick Van Cortlandt, 
Thomas Emmons, Williams Betts and William 
Hadley were of the local committee for the Yonkers. 
Under their supervision a militia company was 
formed in the precinct, as part of the "South Battal- 
ion" of the county. The roster included sixty-four 
names, — Anthony Allaire, Abraham Asten, George 
Berrien, Wm. Betts, Frederick, Gilbert and Robert 
Brown, Hendrick Browne, Jr., Henry Bursen,Jno. Cock, 
Jno. and Edw'd Cortright, Geo. and Jas. Crawford, Jno. 
Cregier, Daniel Deen, John Devoe, Abraham Em- 
mons, Beuj., Thos, and Robert Farrington, Usial 
Fountain, Wm. and Isaac Green, Geo., Isaac, Jos. and 
Wm. Hadley, Thos. Merrill, Jas. Munro, Jos. Jr., and 
Thos. Oakley, Abraham and John Odell, Jas. Parker, 
Abm. Dennis, Isaac, Israel, Jacob, Lewis, Martin 
and Wm. Post, Henry Presher, Tobias Rickman, Wm. 
Rose, Edward and John Ryer, Francis Smith, Chas. 
Elnathan, Jr., Elijah, Henry and Jacob Taylor, 
Izarell Underhill, Frederick Van Cortlandt, Abm, 
Frederick and Josh. Vermilye, John and Wm. Warner, 



1 The British called the redoubt on the hill near Hyatt's tavern " Ft. 
Prince Charles ; " the one on Tippett's Hill "Number Tliree, and the one on 
Tetard's Hill, the American Ft. Independence, "Number Four." 
21 



king's bridge. 



Geo. Wertz, John and Samuel Williams. On August 
24, 1775, they chose John Cock, captain ; Wm. Betts, 
first lieutenant ; John Warner, second lieutenant ; and 
Jacob Post, ensign. The names were sent to the Pro- 
vincial Congress for commissions. The county com- 
mittee protested against the captain elect, and on the 
11th of September presented the affidavit of William 
Hadley, of the district committee, that when he pre- 
sented the " general association " to Cock, he said, " I 
sign this with my hand, but not with my heart; for 
I would not have signed it, had it not been for my 
wife and family's sake.'" The friends of Cock rallied 
to his support. A majority of the company and a score 
more inhabitants of Yonkers ^ sent down a petition in 
his favor, stating that he had been chosen " for his 
well-known skill and ability in the military disci- 
pline," and that the complaints were made out of 
" spite and malice." But further affidavits by Isaac 
Green and George Hadley, that Cock " had damned 
the Continental Congress," satisfied the Committee of 
Safety that it was improper to give Cock a commission. 
The local committee was ordered to hold a new elec- 
tion, "taking care to give public notice that John 
Cock cannot be admitted to anv office whatso- 



iThey were Matthias, Anthony and Benjamin Archer, Benjamin Ars- 
dan, Stephen Baetine, Ezekial and Henry Brown, George Crawford, 
Benjamin Farrington, Jonathan Fowler, John Guerenean, Samuel Law- 
rence, Henry and Jordan Norris, David, Jr., and Moses Oakley, Abm., 
James and Thomas Rich, Elnathan Taylor and Thomas Tippett. 

- Cock kept the old tavern on the north side of King's Bridge. The 

head of the overthrown statue of George III., in the Bowling Green, was 

carried to Fort Washington, to he fixed to a spike on the flag-staff. While 

it was left temporarily at Jacob Moore's tavern, near by, an emissary 

22 



king's bridge. 



The twenty-one nine-pounders carried off i'rom the 
Battery by the Sons of Liberty, August 23d, were 
hauled up to King's Bridge and left with the rest in 
care of the minute men. In the night of January 17, 
1776, more than fiftyguns near Williams', and as many 
in the fields near Isaac Valentine's, were spiked or 
"loaded and stopped with stones and other rubbish." 
Search was made for the perpetrators. John Fowler 
was brought before the Committee of Safety on the 
23d, charged with a recent purchase of rat-tail files 
in New York. He implicated William Lounsbery, 
of Mamaroneck, as the real purchaser. They were 
imprisoned. Jacamiah Allen was employed to unspike 
the guns at twenty shillings each. He raised them 
on fires of several cords of wood, tended day and 
night to soften the spikes, and by March 16th he had 
unspiked eighty-two and expected to soon complete 
the work. These guns were afterwards mounted 
in the works erected by the American troops on the 
hills about King's Bridge. 

In February, 1776, Augustus Van Cortlandt, clerk 
of New York City, reported to the Committee of 
Safety that for their security he had removed the 
public records to Yonkers. They were deposited in 
Colonel Van Cortlandt's family burial vault' and 

from Colonel Montreeor went out through the "rebel camp" with a 
message to Cock to steal and bury the head. This was done (probably 
at Cock's tavern), and when the British arrived, in November, 1776, it 
was dug up and sent in care of Lady Gage to Lord Tovvnsend, " to con- 
vince them at home of the infamous disposition of the ungrateful people 
of this distracted country." 

' This ancient depository of the city records is still used as a burial- 
place by the family, and gives the name to the hill on which it is lo- 
cated. 

23 



king's bridge. 



were still there in December ; but it is probable the 
British were soon afterwards apprised of their place 
of concealment and had them returned to the city. 

On the 18th of March the Yonkers militia held a 
new election and chose John Warner, captain ; Jacob 
Post, first lieutenant ; Samuel Lawrence, second 
lieutenant ; and Isaac Post, ensign. In May the Pro- 
vincial Congress had in service the armed schooner 
" General Putnam," commanded by Captain Thomas 
Cregier, of King's Bridge. After months of inactivity 
at the heads of inlets when he should have been at 
sea, Cregier was discharged for inefficiency and the 
vessel was sold. 

Early in June Washington visited and inspected 
the grounds above King's Bridge. He found them 
to admit of seven places well calculated for defense. 
" Esteeming it a pass of the utmost importance in 
order to keep open communication with the coun- 
try," he set two Pennsylvania regiments at work on 
their fortification, and put bodies of militia to the 
same labor as fast as they arrived. In General 
Orders of July 2d, Mifilin was directed to repair to 
King's Bridge and to use his utmost endeavors to 
forward the works. " The time is now at hand which 
must probably determine tvhether Americans are to be 
freemen or slaves" is a memorable sentence in this 
order. The enemy was ready to disembark in the 
lower bay. It was unknown from what quarter their 
attack would come. Mifflin thought they would di- 
vert attention to the heights above King's Bridge, 
and it was reported they meant to erect strong works 
there to cut off" communication between city and 
country. On the 12th of July the ships of war "Rose" 



king's bridge. 



and "Phoenix" sailed up the Hudson, and unaware of 
the new batteries which had been planted on Tip- 
pett's and Cock Hills, anchored near the mouth of 
Spuyten Duyvil Creek. A dozen guns opened fire 
on them and " did great execution." On the 15th 
additional troops were hurried out to King's Bridge, 
the destruction of which was apprehended. Three 
hundred men were sent up the Harlem River in 
boats on the 19th and were put to work on the forts. 
Engineers were assigned, tools supplied and the work 
carried on night and day during the ensuing fort- 
night. On the 8th of August General Clinton was 
directed to send expresses to Ulster, Dutchess, Orange 
and Westchester Counties, to hasten levies and 
march them down to the fort erected on the north 
side of the bridge. On the 13th General Heath was 
put in command of the division stationed there and 
large quantities of provisions and ammunition were 
sent up. The "Rose "and "Phoenix" with their tenders 
Avere anchored off Mt. St. Vincent. On the nights of 
the 14th, 15th and 16th numbers of officers and men, 
(including on two occasions Generals Heath and 
Clinton) gathered on Tippett's Hill to witness an at- 
tempt to destroy these vessels with fire-ships. It was 
made at midnight on the 17th. A flaming galley set 
fire to one of the tenders and consumed her with 
" horrid flames." At sunrise on the 18th the frigates 
and remaining tenders fled down stream, and ran 
through the chevaux-de-frise under a heavy cannonade 
from the " Blue Bell Fort " ^ and Fort Lee. On th 
21st Washington assigned the new engineer 

1 Fort Washington, near which the old Blue Bell tavern stood. 
25 



king's BRirOE. 



Monsieur Martin to the post at King's Bridge 
and under tiis direction work was pressed 
on the fortifications. On the 23d Clinton's 
brigade was ordered into camp. Colonel Thomas's 
regiment pitched on the south side of Fort Independ- 
ence, Colonel Graham's about half a mile farther 
southward, Colonel Paulding's and Colonel Nicholas' 
on the flat below, near Corsa's orchard, and Colonel 
Swartwout on the southerly end of Tippett's Hill. On 
the 25th a detachment went down from King's Bridge 
to Paulus Hook in " the flat-bottomed boat " and 
brought back a number of gun-carriages, on which 
cannon were mounted in the new works. Colonel 
Swartwout's regiment threw up a battery "on the 
north side of Spuyten Duyvil Creek, at its very 
mouth," to prevent the enemy from approaching the 
bridge in boats, and also constructed two additional 
redoubts on the top of Tippett's Hill, one of which was 
called " Fort Swartwout." ^ No " fatigue rum " was 
allowed to any one engaged on these works, except on 
certificate that he had been " faithful, obedient and 
industrious." On the 27th the Provincial Congress, 
then sitting at Harlem, alarmed by the defeat on 
Long Island, ordered its records and papers, and the 
receiver-general's chest to be taken at once to the 
camp at King's Bridge. On the 29th Heath impressed 
every boat and craft at the post and hurried them 
down to Washington for use in the retreat from Long 
Island. On the 31st the inhabitants began driving 
their cattle into the interior. The Committee of 



1 The night guard in this work, October 17, 1776, was one captain, two 
lieutenants and fifty men. 

26 



KING'S BRIDGE. 



Safety now urged on Washington the defensibility of 
the country above the bridge and the dreadful conse- 
quences of its occupation by the enemy. He replied 
that the defensible state of that ground had not es- 
caped him, and that as the posts at King's Bridge 
were of such great importance, he hoped the con- 
vention would afford aid for their defense. When it 
became evident in September that the city was un- 
tenable by the Americans in the face of the superior 
British force, Washington determined to take post at 
King's Bridge and along the Westchester shore, where 
barracks could be procured for the part of the army 
without tents. He concluded to leave five thousand 
men on the island for defense of the city, and to post 
nine thousand at King's Bridge and its dependencies. 
On the 8th Heath was instructed to fell trees across 
the roads towards the bridge, to dig holes in them, 
break them up and destroy them so as to be impassable. 
The next day one hundred and sixty thousand boards 
were ordered for the barracks at the bridge, also brick 
and stones for ovens, which all soldiers who were 
masons were ordered to assist in making. 

Meanwhile the inhabitants suffered from the occu- 
pation of their farms. Fences were pulled down and 
burned and corn-fields, gardens and orchards pillaged. 
The orders of the day pronounced it " cruel as well 
as unjust and scandalous thus to destroy the inhab- 
itants by destroying the little property for which 
they have been sweating and toiling through the 
summer and were expecting very soon to reap the 
fruits of." 

Howe's movement to Throg's Neck caused Wash- 
ington to call a meeting of general officers at King's 

27 



KING'S BRIDGE. 



Bridge. It was held on the 16th of October, when it 
was determined to abandon Manhattan Island. On 
the 19th strong pickets were established and frequent 
night patrols made through all the region about 
King's Bridge. On the 20th Washington moved hia 
headquarters to the bridge, where the main army 
was now in barracks, and continued there until the 
22d. During the next few days the army moved off 
to the heights of the Bronx, leaving garrisons in the 
forts about King's Bridge under orders to destroy 
them on the enemy's approach in force. Col. Lasher, 
in Fort Independence, was " to burn the barracks, 
quit the post and join the army, by way of the North 
River, at White Plains." At three in the morning of 
the 28th the long lines of barracks were fired and the 
forts abandoned. Their garrisons either withdrew 
to Fort Washington, or, crossing to New Jersey, 
rejoined their regiments at White Plains by way of 
King's Ferry. Gen. Greene, coming out from Fort 
Washington, found several hundred stand of small 
arms, great numbers of spears, shot, shells, etc. To 
carry these oif he impressed all the wagons in the 
neighborhood. He then dismantled King's Bridge 
and the Free Bridge. On the evening of the 29th 
General Knyphausen, with a force of Hessians and 
Waldeckers which had landed at New Rochelle, ap- 
proached Fort Independence by the old Boston road, 
and, finding it deserted, occupied it the following 
day. He took possession of the other works on 
Tetard's Hill and occupied them until November 2d. 
Then, with part of his forces, he descended and took 
a position on Paparinamin, north of King's Bridge. 
Having repaired the bridge, he crossed over and 

28 



king's bridge. 



occupied the deserted American post on the opposite 
hill, but retired on the 4th. He crossed again on the 
7th with fifteen hundred men and took positions on 
the hills commanding the old King's Bridge road. 
On the 16th the remainder of General Knyphausen's 
force crossed over the Free Bridge and united in the 
capture of Fort Washington, which thereafter took 
his name. 

Being now possessed of the whole of Manhattan 
Island, the British adopted and strengthened the 
American works at and about King's Bridge for the 
defense of New York City. Beginning with the 
westerly redoubt on Spuyten Duyvil Neck, and going 
eastward, and from Fort Independence southward, 
they were distinguished by the numbers 1 to 8, inclu- 
sive. 

Number One was located where the house of the 
late Peter O. Strang stands, in grading for which all 
traces of the fort were obliterated. It was square, 
and overlooked the Hudson and Spuyten Duyvil 
Creek at their confluence. 

Number Two was a circular redoubt on the croAvn 
of the hill in the field west of Warren B. Sage's resi- 
dence. Its walls are yet discernible. ^ This was the 
American Fort Swartwout. In the adjoining field to 
the westward a flanking redan may yet be seen over- 
looking the Riverdale road. 

'Miscalled "Ft. Independence," on Sauthier's and other British maps, 
an error which has misled some modern writers. The same misnomer 
has been perpetnated otherwise. The Coast Survey so calls it in a diagram 
of the triangulation point on its wall. These errors probably arose from 
confounding the name "Tetard's Hill," on which Fort Independence 
stood, with "Tippett's Hill," whereon the fort in question was located. 
29 



king's bridge. 



Number Three stood where Warren B. Sage's house 
now stands, on the easterly brow of Spuyten Duyvil 
Hill and directly overlooking the post on the north- 
erly end of Manhattan Island at King's Bridge, called 
Fort Prince Charles' by the British. Numbers one, 
two and three were first garrisoned in 1777. In No- 
vember, 1778, the three works had a garrison of one 
hundred and ten officers and men. They were aban- 
doned by the British in the fall of 1779. 

The creek near Johnson's foundry was crossed by 
a pontoon bridge, and a military road ran from it up 
the easterly side of the hill to and along Spring 
Street, where it branched off" to the Redoubts One, 
Two and Three. 

Number Four was, the American Fort Independence, 
on Tetard's Hill, across the valley. The house ot 
William Ogden Giles now stands on its site. It was 
built on the farm of General Richard Montgomery, 
and may have been laid out by him. It occupied a 
most commanding position overlooking the Albany 
road on one side and the Boston road on the other. 
It had two bastions at the westerly angles. 

The British garrisoned it continuously from its cap- 
ture until they removed its guns, August 16th, its 
wood-work, August 17th, and demolished its maga- 
zine, September 12, 1779. It was not garrisoned again 
during the war. A number of iron six-pounders were 
dug up inside its walls, by Mr. Giles, when excavat- 
ing his cellar, about thirty years ago. Two of them 
are now mounted in a miniature fort on his grounds. 

Number Five was a square redoubt, whose walls are 



1 This work is yet standing. 
30 



king's bridge. 



yet standing on tlie old Tetard farm, a little way north 
from H. B. Claflin's stables. It is about seventy feet 
square. It was occupied in 1777, and dismantled 
September 18, 1779. 

Number Six stood just west of the present road to 
High Bridge, and its site is now occupied bj' a house 
formerly owned by John B. Haskin, 

Number Seven was on the Cammann place. No 
trace remains. 

Number Eight was on land now owned by H. W. T. 
Mali and Gustav Schwab. The latter's house occu- 
pies part of its site. 

King's Battery is on the grounds of Nathaniel P. 
Bailey, and is still preserved. 

Another redoubt, semicircular in form, is yet 
standing on the old Bussing farm, just north of the town 
line, and distant about ouethousand feet northeasterly 
from the William's Bridge Station on the Harlem Rail- 
road. It commanded the road and bridge across the 
Bronx, and was one of the series of works thrown up 
by Washington along the heights of the Bronx and 
extending northerly to White Plains, at the approach 
of Howe. General Heath located it and Colonels 
Elj' and Douglas were engaged upon it October 6, 
1776. 1 

An outpost of light troops was established near 
Mosholu and maintained throughout each year. The 
force was usually composed of German mounted and 

1 Between this fort and Fort Independence, on the southerly side of 
the Boston road, and on the Corsa farm, stood "Negro Fort," so called, 
it is said, because garrisoned by a company of negroes from Virginia. 
The British kept an outguard there in the winter of 1776-77. No trace 
of it remains, a house now occupying its site. 
31 



king's bridge. 



foot yagers and a company of chasseurs formed of 
detachments from the different Hessian regiments in 
New York.^ Their camp was on Frederick Van 
Cortlandt's farm, near his house.^ They made fre- 
quent patrols out Mile Square road, over Valentine's 
Hill and Boar Hill to Phillipse's Mills' and back by 
the Albany post road. Two three-pound Amusettes 
were sometimes taken on these rounds. 

Another camp of light troops and cavalry was es- 
tablished at the foot of Tetard's Hill, between King's 
Bridge and the Free Bridge. It was long occupied 
by Emmerick's chasseurs, formed in 1777, Simcoe's 
rangers and other Royalist troops. The King's Bridge 
was made the Barrier, and the old tavern on the 
north side became the watch-house. 

During the protracted struggle the Yonkers was 
the scene of constant military activity. Numerous 
unsuccessful attempts were made by the Americans 
to recapture the posts on Tippett's and Tetard's Hills, 
and plans of winter attacks across the frozen Har- 
lem and Spuyten Duyvil were often laid and foiled. 
The rangers of Simcoe and De Lancey, the yagers of 

1 In 1778 five companies of foot and one of mounted yagers, under Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Von Wurmb. In 1779 the yagers and Lord Rawdon's 
corps. 

Captain von Hanger's company of chasseurs, in 1778, consisted of four 
officers, twelve sub-officers, three drummers and one hundx'ed privates- 
selected from the Leib, Erb Piinz, Prinz Carl, Dunop, Mirbacic, Trim- 
bach, Losberg, Knyphausen, Woelwarth, Wiessenbach and Sietz Regi- 
ments. 

3 Known as the "Upper Cortlandts," in distinction from Colonel 
Jacobus Van Cortlandt's house on the plain, called " Lower Cortlandts." 
The former was also called " Cortlandt's white-house " sometimes. It 
was burned about 1826, and the present residence of Waldo Hutchins 
was erected on its site. 

32 



KING S BRIDGE. 



Von Wurmb and the chasseurs of Emmerick were 
often met and engaged by troops of American Light 
Horse, under the fiery Colonel Armand and other 
dashing leaders, on the high-roads and by-ways of 
the Yonkers plantation. It was also the scene of 
ceaseless ravages by those irregular bands, known as 
"Cowboys" and "Skinners." Most of the inhabit- 
ants went into exile, and were refugees within either 
the American or British lines. Their homes were 
desolated, their buildings, fences and orchards de- 
stroyed. The Tippetts were mainly Tories. In 1776, 
General George Clinton arrested Gilbert Tippett for 
"practices and declarations inimical to American 
liberty." Colonel James De Lancey had married 
a cousin, Martha Tippett. The Warners, Hadleys, 
Valentines, Bettses, Corsas, Posts and other old resi- 
dents were nearly all stanch Whigs, and supplied 
some of the ablest guides and minute-men of the 
Revolution. 

The Siege of Fort Independence. — In January, 
1777, General Heath made a movement against the 
British outposts at King's Bridge. ^ His forces were 
chiefly Connecticut volunteers and Dutchess County 
militia. They moved down on the night of the 17th, 
in three divisions — the right, under General Lincoln, 
from Tarrytown by the old Albany road, to the 
heights above Colonel Van Cortlandt's ; the centre, 
under General Scott, from below White Plains to the 
rear of Valentine's house, ^ on the Boston road ; and 

1 The following account of the movement is condensed from Heath's 
and contemporary British reports. 

- Now and for nearly a century past the Varian homestead, an ancient 
stone house on the northerly side of the road. 



KING S BRIDGE. 



the left, under Generals Wooster and Parsons, from 
New Rochelle and East Chester to Williams' on 
the east side of the Bronx above the bridge. The 
three divisions arrived simultaneously at the enemy's 
outposts just before sunrise on the 18th. Gen- 
eral Lincoln surprised the guard above Van Cort- 
landt's, capturing arms, equipage, etc. Heath moving 
with the centre, as it approached Valentine's house, 
ordered its cannonade by Captain Bryant in case of 
resistance from the guard quartered there, and sent 
two hundred and fifty men at double-quick to the 
right into the hollow between the house and Fort 
Independence to cut off the guard. Just then two 
British light horsemen, reconnoitering out the Boston 
road, came unexpectedly on the head of Wooster's 
column where the road descends to Williams' bridge. 
Before they could turn, a field-piece dismounted one, 
who was taken prisoner, while the other galloped back 
crying " The rebels ! the rebels ! " which set all 
outguards and pickets running to the fort, leaving 
arms, blankets, provisions, tools, etc., behind. Those 
fleeing from Valentine's and the Negro Fort were 
fired on and one captured. The American left and 
centre were then moved into the hollow between 
Valentine's and Fort Independence, and the surren- 
der of the latter was demanded and refused. The 
garrison consisted of a body of Hessians and Colonel 
Rogers' rangers. Heath sent a detachment with two 
field-pieces southward to the brow of the hill over- 
looking the Free Bridge, ^ and opened fire on a bat- 
talion of Hessians drawn up across the Harlem, back 

Probably to a point or. the old Tetaid farm, now Claflin's land. 
34 



KING S BRIDGE. 



of Hyatt's tavern. The enemy settled down as the 
shot passed them, and one piece being moved lower 
down, they retired rapidly behind their redoubt, ^ 
receiving a shot as they were turning the point. The 
enemy now opened on Heath's artillerymen from 
guns he had not suspected to be in the redoubt, and 
the men hastily drew their pieces back, receiving sev- 
eral shots before they reached the top of the hill. 

The success of this movement on the British out- 
posts flew through the country and was magnified into 
the reduction and capture of Fort Independence and 
its garrison. Washington communicated this report 
to Congress before receiving official accounts, causing 
a double disappointment when the facts were known. 
The Tory press in New York City reported it as an 
attack on Fort Independence by a large body of 
rebels, who were " bravely repulsed." 

On the 19th the enemy opened fire from the fort 
and killed one American. Heath determined to cut 
off the British battalion at Hyatt's by passing one 
thousand men over Spuyten Duy vil Creek on the ice. 
It was very cold. The men were detached and gath- 
ered at Spuyten Duyvil Ridge for the attack, but 
before morning the weather had so moderated that it 
was deemed too hazardous to make the attemjit. 
There was cannonading on both sides on the 20th, 
and the enemy on the island were thrown into much 
confusion. Heath observing that the enemy, when 
fired at across the Harlem, found shelter behind the 
hill at Hyatt's, had a field-piece hauled up to the 

1 The fort on the hill at northerly end of Manhattan Island, over- 
looking the King's and Free Bridges, — originally built by Americans 
and called by the British "Fort Prince Charles." 
as 



king's bridge. 



brow of Tippett's Hill, and opened fire on both their 
front and rear on the afternoon of the 21st. Some 
of the enemy found shelter in their redoubt, others 
under the banks ; some lay flat on the ground and 
some betook themselves to the cellars, so that pres- 
ently there was no object for the gunners. A smart 
skirmish occurred at Fort Independence on the 22d. 
To keep up the appearance of serious designs upon the 
fort. Heath ordered fascines, etc., to be made, and 
sent for a brass twenty-four pounder and a howitzer 
from New Castle. Another skirmish took place near 
the south side of the fort on the 23d, just before dusk, 
in which the Americans had an ensign and private 
killed, and five men wounded. On the 24th a severe 
storm began ; Lincoln 's division had to quit 
their huts in the woods back of Colonel Van Cort- 
landt's, and move back, some even to Dobbs Ferry, 
to find shelter. A freshet in the Bronx caused the 
water to run over Williams' bridge. Early on the 
25th, the enemy sallied from Fort Independence 
towards De Lancey's Mills, surprised and routed the 
guard, wounding several and causing a regiment to 
quit its quarters. By British accounts they also took 
one piece of cannon. About ten o'clock they made 
a sally out the Boston road in force, drove the guards 
from Negro Fort and Valentine's house, and pushed 
on so impetuously, keeping up a brisk fire, that the 
retreating guards threw themselves into the old 
American redoubt ' overlooking Williams' bridge. 
The enemy thereupon lined a strong stone wall a few 

1 This old Revolutionary work may still be traced ou -the hill north- 
west from the bridge. It is semicircular in form and was laid out by 
Heath in the fall of 177G. 

36 



king's bridge. 



rods distant to the southwest. Two regiments of 
militia were at once formed in tlie road near Wil- 
liams' house, across the Bronx, and were sent by Gen- 
eral Heath, in support of Captain Bryant with his 
piece, across the submerged bridge. When nearly 
up the hill on the Boston road, Bryant unlimbered 
to prevent his horses being shot, and the men 
took the drag-ropes ; but the steepness of the ascent 
required the dragging of the piece almost within 
pistol-shot before it could be depressed enough to bear 
on the enemy. Its first shot opened a breach in the 
wall four or five feet wide, the next made another 
opening, whereupon the enemy fled back to Fort In- 
dependence with the greatest precipitation. The 
Americans had two killed and a number wounded. 
On the 27th the brass twenty-four pounder and the 
howitzer arrived and opened on the fort. The former 
sprung her carriage after the third discharge. There 
were no live shells for the howitzer. No regular 
cannonade of the fort was, in fact, ever contemplated. 
Attempts were made to draw the enemy out of the 
fort. A detachment was sent to Morrisania to light 
numerous fires at night ; and, to induce the enemy to 
suppose the Americans were collecting there with 
designs of crossing to New York at or near Harlem, 
large boats were brought forward on carriages. The 
British garrison on Montressor's (Randall's) Island, 
alarmed at this, set fire to the buildings and fled to 
New York. ^ A brigade of the enemy moved up to 



iBy Tory accounts tlie "rebels" went over to Montressor's Island and 
"burnt Colonel Montressor's house to the grounti, and ravaged what- 
ever ihey could meet with " on this occasion. 
»7 



KING'S BRIDGE. 



Fort Washington and a detachment was sent for from 
Rhode Island. 

On the 29th a severe snow-storm came on. Gens. 
Lincohi, Wooster, Scott and Tenbroeck were unani- 
mous that the troops ought to move back where they 
could be protected from the inclement weather, espe- 
cially as they had no artillery with which to take the 
fort, and were opposed to any idea of assault or storm 
with militia. Accordingly, after dusk, the American 
forces retired northward and eastward in good order to 
their former stations, and the siege of Fort Indepen- 
dence was abandoned. The boldness of these opera- 
tions, by raw militia, and for so long a period, in face 
of the strong force of British and German veterans 
in New York, speak volumes for the spirit of our 
grandsires in their determined contest for indepen- 
dence. 

The Massacre of the Stockbridge Indians. — 
During the summer of 1778 the British light troops, 
which were encamped about King's Bridge, had fre- 
quent skirmishes with the American light troops on 
the highways and by-roads of the old Yonkers. 

On the 20th of August, when patrolling out the old 
"Mile Square Road," Lieutenant-Colonel Emmerick 
was attacked and compelled to return to his camp at 
King's Bridge. A few days later a small body of 
American light troops and Indians, under Colonel 
Gist, which had taken part in this encounter, was 
posted in several detachments on the heights com- 
manding the old road, one body on each side of the 
road, just north of its crossing over a small stream be- 
yond the present Woodlawn Heights, and a third 
about three hundred yards west of the road, on Devoe's 

38 



KING S BRIDGE. 



farm, opposite to Woodlawn Heights. Between the 
last party and the road were scattered about sixty 
Stockbridge Indians, under their chief, Nimham, who 
had been in England. Lieutenant-colonel Simcoe, of 
the Queen's Rangers, learned, through his spies, that 
the Indians were highly elated at Emmerick's retreat 
and supposed that they had driven the whole force of 
light troops at King's Bridge. He took measures to 
increase this belief and meantime planned to ambus- 
cade and capture their whole force. His idea was, as 
the enemy came down the "Mile Square Road," to 
advance past his flanks. This movement would be 
perfectly concealed by the fall of the ground to the 
right {i.e., down the slope in Woodlawn Heights, to- 
wards the stream at Second Street) and by the woods 
on the left {i.e., Van Cortlandt's woods, bordering the 
road and " Lover's Lane," extending north from the 
road opposite Fourth Street). 

On the morning of August 31st the Queen's Ran- 
gers, under Simcoe, the chasseurs, under Emmerick 
and De Lancey's Second Battalion and the Legion Dra- 
goons, under Lieutenant-colonel Tarleton, marched 
out the " Mile Square Road," reaching the present 
Woodlawn Heights about ten o'clock. The rangers 
and dragoons were posted on the right (east of Second 
Street and about opposite to First Avenue). Emmer- 
ick's instructions were to take a position on the left, 
in Van Cortlandt's woods, near Frederick Devoe's 
house, half a mile up the lane. By mistake he took 
post in the woods near Daniel Devoe's house, which 
stood on the " Mile Square Road," near the entrance 
to the lane, and sent a patrol forward on the road. 
Before Simcoe, who was half-way up a tree reconnoit- 

39 



KING'S BRIDGE. 



ering, could stop this movement, he saw a flanking 
party of Americans approach and heard a smart firing 
by the Indians who had lined the fences alongside 
the road on Emmerick's left. 

The rangers under Simcoe moved rapidly up the 
stream to gain the heights (Husted's), which were 
occupied by the Americans under Gist and Stewart, 
and the cavalry under Tarleton advanced directly 
up the hill to where Emmerick was engaged (between 
Third and Fourth Avenues). Being unable to pass 
the fences bordering the road, Tarleton made a cir- 
cuit to return on the right (coming to the road again 
about Fifth Avenue). Simcoe, hearing of Tarleton's 
difficulty, left the remainder of his corps under Major 
Ross, and breaking from the rangers with the grena- 
dier company, arrived unperceived (about opposite 
the end of Sixth Avenue) close upon the left flank of 
the Indians, who were intent upon the attack of Em- 
merick and Tarleton. AVith a yell the Indians fired 
on the grenadier company, wounding Simcoe and 
four of his men; but being outnumbered and flanked, 
the Indians were driven from the fences into the 
open fields of Daniel Devoe, north of the road. Tar- 
leton and Emmerick then got among them with the 
cavalry. The Indians fought most gallantly, pulling 
several of the cavalry from their horses ; but over- 
powered by the superior force of the enemy, they had 
to flee. They were swiftly pursued up over the fields, 
across the lane, down through Van Cortlandt's woods, 
over Tippett's Brook into the woods on the ridge be- 
yond, where a few survivors found concealment 
among the rocks and bushes, and thus escaped. 
Nearly forty were killed or desperately wounded, in- 

40 



king's bridge. 



eluding the old chief Nimham and his son. The 
former called out to his people to fly, "that he was 
old and would die there." He wounded Simcoe and 
was killed by Wright, his orderly hussar. Tarleton 
had a narrow escape in the pursuit down the ridge. 
In striking at an Indian he lost his balance and fell 
from his horse, but luckily for him the Indian had 
no bayonet and had discharged his musket. During 
the pursuit Simcoe joined the battalion of rangers, 
seized the heights (Husted s) and captured a captain 
and several men of the American light troops, but 
the main body escaped. The bodies of many of the 
Indians were buried in a small clearing in Van Cort- 
iandt's woods, since known as the " Indian Field." 

In July, 1781, Washington came in force to at- 
tempt a surprise of the British posts at King's 
Bridge, expressly to cut off De Lancey's and other 
light corps ; but without success. Later in the month, 
accompanied by De Rochambeau, he moved a force of 
five thousand men down to the heights beyond King's 
Bridge and reconnoitered the northerly part of Man- 
hattan island from Tippett's and Tetard's Hills and 
Fordham Heights. In September a British force of 
five thousand men moved out across the bridge to 
Valentine's Hill, as an escort to the young Prince 
William Henry. After the bitterly cold winter of 
1782-83 the British troops were withdrawn from the 
Yonkers and King's Bridge. The inhabitants began 
to return to their desolate homes, while the Loyalists 
crowded into the city. In November, Washington 
came once more down the old post road, spent the 
night of the 12th at the Van Cortlandt house, and 
the next day, amid the acclamations of the people, 



KIKG'S BRIDGE. 



rode victorious across King's Bridge, over wliich he 
had retreated seven years before. 

Political History. — The area under considera- 
tion was part of tlie fief of Colen-donck from 1(352 to 
1664. After the English conquest in the latter year 
it belonged to the North Riding of Yorkshire until 
the erection of Westchester County under the act of 
October 1, 1691. It was afterwards known as the 
Yonkers Precinct (except the parts included in the 
Manor of Phillipsburgh after the erection of the 
latter, in 1693). By the act of June 19, 1703, the 
towns, manors, etc., were authorized to choose super- 
visors, and each inhabitant of any precinct, being a 
freeholder, was allowed "to join his vote with the 
next adjacent town." The freeholders of the Yonkers 
probably voted for a supervisor with the freeholders 
of East Chester. They chose their own local officers 
for the precinct, of w^hom the following " Collectors 
for the Yonkers " are known : William Jones, 1708- 
10; John Barrett, 1713-14; John Heading [Had- 
den], 1715-16; Mr. George Tippett, 1717; Mr. Joseph 
Taylor, 1718; Matthias Valentine, 1719; Joseph 
Hadley, 1720; Moses Taylor, 1721-23; William 
Jones, 1724 ; Moses Taylor, 1725; Thomas Sherwood, 
1726 ; Moses Taylor, 1727 ; Thomas Rich, 1728 ; Ed- 
ward Smith, 1729-30; Charles Vincent, 1731-32; 
Jacob Ryder, 1733-34 ; Joseph Taylor, 1736. 

By the act of November 1, 1722, " to increase the num- 
ber of supervisors for Westchester County," the inhabit- 
ants of each precinct having not less than twenty inhab- 
itants were allowed to choose their own supervisor. 
The Yonkers was no doubt represented in the board 
by its own member thereafter ; but by reason of the 

42 



KINfx's BRIDGE. 



loss of the records of the precinct and of the board' 
before 1772 their names are not known. On the first 
Tuesday in April, 1756, the freeholders and inhabit- 
ants of the Yonkers and Mile Square^ held a public 
town-meeting at the house of Edward Stevenson, in 
the Yonkers, and chose James Gorton (Coerteu ?) 
supervisor and pounder : Benjamin Fowler, town 
clerk ; Thomas Sherwood, constable and collector ; 
David Oakley and William Warner, assessors; Ed- 
ward Weeks, Wm. Crawford, Daniel Devoe, John 
Ryder, Isaac Odell and Hendrick Post, highway 
masters ; Andrew Nodine, Charles Warner, Moses 
Tailer and Isaac Odell, fence and damage viewers.^ 

Commissioners of highways in 1770 : James Van 
Cortlandt and Benjamin Fowler. 

Supervisors for the Yonkers : Colonel James Van 
Cortlandt, 1772-76 ; (none during the British occupa- 
tion); Israel Honeywell, 1784; William Hadley, 
1786-87 ; David Hunt, 1787. 

Constables : Jeremiah Sherwood, 1773 ; Henry 
Odell, 1775; Thomas Sherwood, 1784. 

By act of March 7, 1788, a new town was erected, 
containing part of Phillipsburgh, Mile Square and 
the old precinct of Yonkers, under the name of 
Yonkers. In NoA'ember, 1872, the sujiervisors of 

1 It is probable that the Yonkers and Mile Square constituted one pre- 
cinct under the name of the former. The Manor of Phillipsburgh sur- 
rounded Mile Square on three sides, and also separated it from the Yon- 
kers. The inhabitants of the manor dwelling upon the old Mile Square 
road, between Yonkers and Mile Square, were sometimes described as 
"of the Yonkers m Phillipsburgh." 

■-Bolton's " Westchester County." The author must have seen the 
town-book (now, unfortunately, lost), and extracted therefrom the ac. 
count of the meeting of 175G. 

4.3 



KING S BRIDGE. 



Westchester County erected a township consisting of 
all of the town of Yonkers lying south of the south- 
erly line of the city of Yonkers, to be called King's 
Bridge. Its first and only annual meeting was held 
at Temperance Hall, Mosholu, March 25, 1873. On 
the 1st of January, 1874, King's Bridge was annexed 
to the city of New York and now forms part of the 
Twenty-fourth Ward. 

Church History. — Before 1700 the inhabitants 
had no place of public worship nearer than East 
Chester. In 1707 they assembled "sometimes in the 
house of Joseph Betts, deceased, and sometimes in a 
barn when empty." About 1724 they had preaching 
three times a year by the rector from East Chester, 
and they "began to be in a disposition to build a 
church." None was erected, however, for more than 
a century. Those of the Reformed Dutch creed at- 
tended services at the church of Fordham Manor, 
erected in 1706. It stood on the northerly side of the 
road to Fordham Landing, where Moses Devoe's gate- 
way now is. Upon the oi'ganization of the English 
Church at the Lower Mills those of that faith in 
the Yonkers attended there. After the Revolution 
Augustus Van Cortlandt and John Warner were of 
the first trustees of the new "Yonkers Episcopal 
Society," formed in 1787, and members of the first 
vestry of " St. John's Church in the town of Yonkers," 
on its incorporation, in 1795. Isaac Vermilye, Wil- 
liam Hadley, William AVarner and " Cobus" Dyck- 
man were trustees of "the Reformed Dutch Church at 
the Lower Mills in the Manor of Philljpsburgh," in- 
corporated in 1784. 

Methodist Episcopal Church Bethel (Mosh- 

44 



king's bridge. 



olu). — This was the first religious society to erect a 
house of worship in the limits of King's Bridge. So 
early as 1826 a charge existed, having thirty-six 
white members and one colored, under Samuel W, 
Fisher, preacher. Meetings were held in an old 
school-house which stood near Warner's store, Mosh- 
olu. In 1828 E. Hebard had the charge He re- 
mained during 1828 and organized a class. The suc- 
ceeding preachers were R. Seaman, 1829-30; E. 
Hebard, 1831-32; E. Smith, 1833-34; Thomas Evans, 
1835. On the 10th of February, 1835, Caleb Van 
Tassell, James Cole, Jacob Varian, Abraham Wood 
and John C. Lawrence were chosen trustees to build 
a church and February 14th Caleb Van Tassell and 
Jacob H. Varian made and filed a certificate of incor- 
poration as " Trustees of Methodist Church Bethel " 
in the town of Yonkers. A frame building was 
erected on the westerly side of the Albany post road 
and is yet standing, though disused for several years. 
Its pastors have been E. Oldrin, I, D. Bangs and 
Thomas Barch (superannuated), 1836-37; John 
Davies, Salmon C. Perry and Barch, 1838; Henry 
Hatfield, Perry and Barch, 1839 ; Barch and Daniel 
I. Wright, 1840 ; Daniel I. Wright and Humphrey 
Humphreys, 1841 ; John A. Silleck and Humphreys, 
1842 ; Silleck and Fred'k W. Seger, 1843 ; John C. 
Green and Mr. Barch, 1844-45 ; Charles C. Keyes, 
1846-47; S. C. Perry, 1848^9; Paul R. Brown, 
1850-51 ; Philip L. Hoyt, 1852 ; Richard Wheatly, 
1853-54 ; Noble Lovett and Thos. Bainbridge, 1855 ; 
O. E. Brown and Bainbridge, 1856; A. B. Davis, 
1857-58; R. H. Kelly, 1859-60; Wm. F. Browning 
and A. B. Brown, 1861; J. G. Shrive, 1862-63; 

45 



king's bridge. 



W. H. Smith, 1864; W. H. Smith, 1865; A. Os- 
trander, 1866-67; A. C. Gallahue, 1868; W. M. 
Henry, 1869 ; A. Ostrander, 1870 ; Wm. Plested, 1871 ; 
W. Tarleton, 1872; H. Croft, 1873; and Cyrus Nixon, 
1874-75. Since that date the congregation has 
worshipped at King's Bridge. 

Church of the Mediator (King's Bridge). — 
Formed at meeting held August 15, 1855, pursuant to 
notice given by the rector of St. John's Church, 
Yonkers, who presided. Certificate recorded Novem- 
ber 17, 1856. Name adopted " The Church of the 
Mediator, Yonkers." Abraham Valentine and James 
R. Whiting were elected wardens, and Thomas J. De 
Lancey, William 0. Giles, John C. Sidney, Russell 
Smith, Joseph H. Godwin, T. Bailey Myers, Daniel 
Valentine and David B. Cox, vestrymen. Certificate 
executed by Rev. A. B. Carter, A. Van Cortlandt and 
William O. Giles. The church, a frame structure, was 
erected on land presented by James R. Whiting at a 
cost of five thousand dollars, and the rectory on ad- 
joining land soon afterwards. The church was con- 
secrated by Bishop Horatio Potter November 6, 1864. 
The officiating clergyman in 1857 was Rev. T. 
James Brown, of the island of Jamaica. The rectors 
have been Rev. Cornelius W. Bolton, June, 1858, to 
May, 1859|; Rev. Leigh Richmond Dickinson, June, 
1859. to June, 1866 ; and Rev. William T. Wilson, 
since October, 1866. 

River dale Presbyterian Church. — Formed at 
a meeting held Wednesday, 24th June, 1863, Isaac G. 
Johnson and Edwin P. Gibson presiding. The first 
trustees chosen were Samuel N. Dodge, Robert 
Colgate, J. Joseph Eagleton, John Mott, James 

40 



king's bridge. 



Scrymser, Isaac G. Johnson, William E. Dodge, Jr., 
Warren B. Sage and David B. Kellogg. Certificate 
of incorporation recorded July 14, 1863. The church 
building, of stone, was completed and dedicated Octo- 
ber 11, 1863. Cost, about five thousand dollars. The 
stone parsonage adjoining was built soon after. The 
original membership was fifteen and the first elders 
were John Mott and Warren B. Sage. The pastors 
have been : George M. Boynton, October 28, 1863, to 
June, 1867 ; Henry H. Stebbius, August 25, 1867, to 
December 28, 1873, Charles H. Burr, March 5, 1874 to 
July 28, 1878 ; William R. Lord, April 30, 1879, to 
November 20, 1881 ; Ira S. Dodd, April 15, 1883, the 
present pastor. Entire membership, one hundred and 
twenty-five. 

Christ Church (Riverdale).— Formed at a meet- 
ing held September 10, 1866 ; Rev.. E. M. Peck, chair- 
man. Henry L. Stone and Newton Carpenter were 
elected wardens, and Samuel D. Babcock, George W. 
Knowlton, Thompson N. Hollister, Frederick Good- 
ridge, Martin Bates, William W. Thompson, William 
H. Appleton and Henry F. Spaulding, vestrymen. 
Certificate by E. M. Peck, Percy R. Pyneand Charles 
H. P. Babcock, recorded September 15, 1866. Cor- 
porate name, "The Rector, Church Wardens and Ves- 
trymen of Christ Church, Riverdale." The corner- 
stone of the church was laid in 1865. It is built of 
granitic gneiss and is cruciform. Rev. E. M. Peck 
acted as rector until the Rev. George D. AVildes, D.D., 
present rector, assumed charge, in 1868. The rectory 
adjoining the church is a frame building. There are 
some beautiful memorial windows in the church, 
notably one recently inserted by Percy R. Pyne at a 



king's bridge. 



cost of twenty-five thousand francs. It is a master- 
piece of the French school by E. S. Oudinot and L. 
O. Merson, of Paris, representing the supper at 
Em mans. 

Edge Hill Chapel (Spuyten Duyvil). — Erected 
in 1869, on land leased by Isaac G. Johnson at a nomi- 
nal rent. Services are conducted every Sunday even- 
ing by the pastor of Riverdale Presbyterian Church. 

WooDLAWN Methodist Episcopal Church 
(Woodlawn Heights). — Organized in 1875. Building 
erected on lots donated by E. K. Willard ; completed 
and dedicated April, 1876, by Bishop Janes. Pas- 
tors: D. W. C. Van Gaasbeek, 1875-76; Aaron Coons, 
1876-79; Gustave Laws, 1880-81 ; J. O. Kern, 1881, 
present incumbent. Membership, thirty-nine. 

St. Stephen's Methodist Episcopal Church 
(King's Bridge). — Organized by trustees of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal Church Bethel (Mosholu) in 1875. 
Church completed and dedicated May 14, 1876. Pas- 
tors : D. W. 0. Van Gaasbeek. 1875-76 ; Aaron Coons, 
1876-79 ; David Tasker, 1879-80 ; S. Lowther, 1880-82; 
R. H. Kelly, 1882-83 ; Isaac H. Lent, present incum- 
bent. Membership, forty-seven. 

St. John's Church (King's Bridge). — Built under 
the direction of the Rev. Henry A. Branu, D.D., and 
dedicated December 3, 1880, by Cardinal McCloskey. 
Since its erection Dr. Brann has been aided in attend- 
ing to the congregation by the Revs. Fr. Micena, Dr. 
Shrader, D. McCormick and William Fry, and the 
present assistant is Rev. Father O'Neill. Attached 
to the church are ihe St. John's Benevolent Society 
and St. Patrick's Temperance Society. The congre- 
gation numbers about five hundred souls and is con- 



KING S BRIDGE. 



nected with St. Elizabeth's Church, Fort Washington, 
where Dr. Brann resides. 

VILLAGES. 

King's Bridge. — The village of this name sprang 
up about thirty-five years ago, upon the ancient 
" island or hummock " of Paparinamin, from which 
it has since overspread the site of the old village of 
Fordham and the hillside beyond. Paparinamin was 
given, in 1668, by Elias Doughty to George Tippett. 
Alter his death, in 1675, Archer laid claim to it ; but, 
exacting as a recognition of his manorial rights the 
annual payment of a " ffat capon " every New Year's 
day, he released the tract to Secretary Matthias Nicoll. 
Two years later Tippett's widow, then wife of Lewis 
Vitrey, reconveyed the island to Doughty, who, in 
turn, transferred it to the secretary. Thus the title to 
this tract vested in the colonial government, which 
had already assigned its use to Ferryman Verveelen. 
In 1693 it was included in the grant of the Manor of 
Phillipsburgh, of which it remained a part until for- 
feited by the attainder of Colonel Phillipse, in 1779. 
It was sold by the Commissioners of Forfeiture (deed 
July 30, 1785) to Joseph Crook, inn-keeper, Daniel 
Barkins and Abraham Lent, Jr., of Dutchess County, 
in joint tenancy. Medcef Eden, brewer, John Eam- 
sey and Alexander von Pfister, merchants, subse- 
quently owned it in whole or part; also, Daniel Hal- 
sey, inn-keeper, who kept the old tavern upon it be- 
tween 1789 and 1793. It was purchased, 1797-99, from 
Von Pfister and Joseph Eden by Alexander. Macomb, 
a wealthy merchant of New York.^ 

IWho purchased from the State ia 1791 move than three million 



king's bridge. 



During the next five years Macomb purchased from 
Isaac Vermilye, John De Lancey, Isaac, John and 
Matthias Valentine, Andrew Corsaand Augustus Van 
Corthiudt adjoiriing parcels, mostly salt meadow, mak- 
ing, up nearly one hundred acres, bounded north by 
Van Cortlandt, east by the Albany road, south by the 
Harlem and Spuyten Duyvil, and west by Tippett's 
Brook. Having obtained from the mayor, etc., of 
New York, in December, 1800, a water grant extend- 
ing across the creek, just east of the King's Bridge 
(which reserved, however, a passage-way fifteen feet 
wide for small boats and craft), Macomb erected a 
four-story frame grist-mill extending out over tlie 
creek. Its power was supplied by the alternate ebb 
and flow of the tide against its under-shot wheel. 
Macomb's extensive real estate ventures proving dis- 
astrous, Paparinamin and the mill were sold under 
foreclosure in 1810, and purchased by his son Robert. 
By an act of 1813 the latter was authorized to con- 
struct a dam across the Harlem from Bussing's to 
Devoe's Point, and to use the water for milling pur- 
poses, and erected at much expense the causeway 
and bridge known as " Macomb's Dam." Its gates ad- 
mitted the flood tide from the East River, but ob- 
structed its ebb, thus converting the Upper Harlem 
into a mill-pond, having its outlets underneath the 
old mill and through a raceway made on the West- 
chester side into Spuyten Duyvil Creek at low tide. 
The race supplied power to a marble-sawing mill 
which stood on a quay between it and the creek, and 



five hundred thousand acres in Northern New York, at 8d. per acre. The 
Adirondack Mountains were long known as -'Macomb's Mountaina." 
51 



KING'S BRIDGE. 



of which Perkins Nicolls was proprietor. Kobert 
Macomb becoming involved, the property was sold by 
thesheriff in 1818. Ten years later it was possessed 
by the "New York Hydraulic Manufacturing and 
Bridge Company," by which an elaborate plan was 
put forth for mill-seats and a manufacturing village, 
based on a report of Professor James Renwick, of 
Columbia College, approved by Colonel Totten and 
General Macomb, chief engineers United States army. 
The enterprise proved abortive.^ The old grist- 
milP stood idle during many years, and at length 
was made useless by the removal of Macomb's 
Dam. In 1830 Mary C. P. Macomb, the wife of 
Robert, acquired the Paparinamin tract, and during 
many years made the old stone tavern her home, ex- 
ercising therein a generous hospitality, of which 
Edgar Allen Poe was a frequent recipient. In 1847 
Mrs. Macomb laid out the estate into streets and plots, 
which she afterwards disposed of Several houses 
were erected, stores and shops were opened, a church 
built and a centre of population established, which 
has grown to several hundreds. There are now three 
churches, a grammar school, police station, numerous 
stores, shops, saloons and dwellings. Among the 



1 It was proposed, in an elaborate prospectus, to dam the Yonkers Riv- 
er (Tippett's Brook) near its mouth, and have gates opening down-stream 
only. The bed of the stream and the salt meadows through which it 
flowed were to form a reservoir for tail-water, which would empty itself 
into Spuyteu Duyvil Creek at low tide. Fourteen mill-seats, each fifty 
by one hundred feet, bordered the race-ways, and an aggregate of at 
least two hundred and thirty-four horse-power was assured for mills. 

2 It fell down about 1856. 

52 



KING S BRIDGE. 



well-known residents are Joseph H. Godwin/ William 
G. Ackerman, William O. Giles, George MoUer, Wil- 
liam A. Varian, M.D., Benjamin T. Sealey, William 
H. Geer, John Parsons, M.D., Rev. William T. Wil- 
son and others. 

Spuyten Duyvil. — A village (and until recently a 
post office) located on the southerly end of Spuyten 
Duyvil Neck. The land was owned by George Tip- 
pett, who died in 1761. He devised it in several 
parcels to his children and grandchildren. Soon af- 
ter the Revolution it belonged to Samuel Berrien, 
who had married Dorcas Tippett, daughter of George.^ 
He sold to Abraham Berrien, a nephew, in whose 
family it continued until about 1850. In 1852 the 
tract was in three farms, which were purchased that 
year and next by Elias Johnson, David B. Cox and 
Joseph W. Fuller, of Troy, N. Y. They had surveys 
and plans made for a village to be called Fort Inde- 
pendence,^' but which was changed to Spuyten Duyvil. 
Streets were opened and several houses erected on the 
hill, and a foundry was established at its base. The 
latter was afterwards bought and extended into a 
rolling-mill by Jervis Langdon, who was succeeded 
by the Langdon Rolling-Mill Company. The Spuy- 



1 Mr. Godwiu's residence is the old Macomb mansion, now altered and 
enlarged. 

2 A grandson of the first proprietor of the name. His wife was Dor. 

c(^g . He had sons : George, William, James and Thomas (all of whom 

married and had issue), and daughters: Jane, wife of Charles Warner ; 
Phebe, wife of George Hadley; and Dorcas, wife of Samuel Berrien. The 
Kev. William Berrien, rector of Trinity Parish, New York, and its histo- 
rian, was a grandson of the latter. 

3 After the Kevolutionary fort, erroneously supposed to have occupied 
this bill. 



king's bridge. 



ten Duyvil Rolling-Mill Company, organized in 1867, 
next owned this property. A malleable iron foundry 
was established on adjoining premises by Isaac G. 
Johnson and now employs several hundred hands. 
There are about thirty private dwellings on the ele- 
vated ground, including the residences of Mrs. D. B. 
Cox, Thomas H. Edsall, George C. Holt, Isaac G. 
Johnson,^ Ellas Johnson, Gilbert Johnson, Henry R. 
Lounsbery, David M. Morrison, George H. Petrie, 
Albert E. Putnam, Joseph R. Sergeant, Mrs. Peter 
O. Strang, Warren B. Sage, Henry M. Smith and 
others. 

Immediately northward is a tract of three hundred 
and fifty-six acres, also known as Spuyten Duyvil. 
Frederick Van Cortlandt purchased it in several par- 
cels between 1708 and 1788, and built his house on a 
commanding spot on the easterly side, approached by 
a private road leading up from the post road at Mo- 
sholu. He devised this property to his brother Au- 
gustus, by whose will it passed to a grandson, Augus- 
tus F. Morris, who assumed the name of Van Cort- 
landt. From him James R. Whiting bought the 
tract in 1836 and about 1840 erected a large stone 
mansion on the western side, overlooking the Hudson. 
Samuel Thomson, William C. Wetmore and Daniel 
Ewing became interested in Whiting's purchase in 
1841, and they subsequently divided it into parcels 
stretching from the Hudson across the neck to Tip- 
pett's Brook. Thomson took the northerly parcel, on 
which stood a large stone house erected about 1822 



1 Mr. Johnson resides in the old Berrien house, which he has enlarged 
and improved. 

54 



king's bridge. 



on the site of the " Upper Cortlandts'," destroyed in 
that year by fire. Surrounded by well laid out and 
highly-improved grounds, it is now the residence of 
Waldo Hutchins. Near by is Hiram Barney's beau- 
tiful country-seat, "Cedar Knolls." The Whiting 
mansion is occupied by James E. Whiting, Jr. Ad- 
joining is the house of James A. Hayden. The late 
General John Ewen's country-seat on this tract is 
now occupied by his widow. 

Hudson Park was laid out in 1853, on the westerly 
part of Samuel Thomson's tract. A single house on 
the river-side was the only one erected for many 
years. Thei-e is now a cluster of small dwellings 
known as " Cooperstown," on this tract. 

North of Hudson Park, and extending across from 
the Hudson to the Albany road, was the old Hadley 
farm of two hundred and fifty-seven acres, of which 
William Hadley died seized in 1802. He purchased 
the southerly part, about one hundred and fifty acres 
extending up to the line of the Manor of Phillips- 
burgh, from James Van Cortlandt, in 1761, and the 
remainder from the Commissioners of Forfeiture, May 
18, 1786. He lived in the old stone house yet stand- 
ing on this tract, just west of the post road. Joseph 
Delafield purchased the farm from Hadley's execu- 
tors in 1829, and it is now owned by Delafield's 
children and grandchildren. The residence of Maturin 
L. Delafield is on the west side of Riverdale Avenue. 
The house of the late Lewis L. Delafield stands on 
the brow of the hill overlooking the Hudson. Mr. 
William E. Dodge's country-seat is on this tract. On 
the west side of Riverdale Avenue is a new fire-engine 
house, the first erected in the old Yonkers. Its tower 

55 



king's bridge. 



contains a melodious old Spanish bell, cast in 1762 by 
Lion art. 

RiVERDALE. — A village (and until recently a post- 
office) situated on partofPhillipsburgh Manor, which 
was sold, by the Commissioners of Forfeiture to George 
Hadley, December 6, 1785. In 1843 William G. Ack- 
erman acquired about one hundred acres of this tract, 
part of which was purchased in 1853 by W. W. Wood- 
worth, H. L. Atherton, Samuel D. Babcockand C. W. 
Foster, and laid out as the village of Riverdale. In 
1856 Henry F. Spaulding and others laid out the land 
adjoining on the south as " The Park, Riverdale." On 
these lands have since been erected a number of beau- 
tiful country-houses, including those of William H. 
Appleton, Samuel D. Babcock, Martin Bates, George 
H. Bend, Robert Colgate, William S. Duke, R. L. 
Franklin, George H. Forster, Frederick Goodridge, 
Laura Harriman, D. Willis James, Percy R. Pyne, 
Moses Taylor Pyne, Henry F. Spaulding, H. L. Stone 
and others. There are two churches and a school- 
house, but no places of business in Riverdale. ^ 

Mt. St. Vincent and the Sisters of Charity. 
— In the northwest corner of what was formerly the 
town of King's Bridge, lying along the Hudson River, 
and partly jutting over the northern boundary of the 
city of New York into the adjoining city of Yonkers, 
is Mount St. Vincent — the property of the Sisters of 
Charity — a picturesque tract of more than fifty acres 
of land, together with the convent and other build- 

1 Between Riverdale and Mount St. Vincent is a part of the old John 

Warner farm, formerly owned by A. Schermerhorn, and another part 

owned by J. E. Bettner, E. F. Brown and others. Some fine stone 

rniintry-houseshave recently been erected on these tracts. 

5fi 



king's bridge. 



ings which make the mother house of the Sisters in 
the Archdiocese of New York. The institution was 
founded here ip 1856, when this site was still in 
Westchester County. Nearly a thousand Sisters, in 
more than a hundred subordinate houses, including 
asylums, hospitals, the Girls' Protectory in West- 
chester, the retreat for the insane at Harrison, in- 
dustrial schools, academies and parish schools, are 
governed from Mt. St. Vincent. The many parish and 
other schools, under the Sisters of Charity from this 
house, and situated in Westchester County and in 
and near New York, include about thirty -five thou- 
sand pupils, besides the hundreds of sick and infirm 
in their different asylums and hospitals. 

The Sisters of Charity are a benevolent corpora- 
tion of women only, formed under the general laws of 
the State of New York, and governed by their own 
trustees elected from among themselves, and are 
largely independent. The Mother Superior is the 
president of the corporation. Mother Angela Hughes, 
the youngest sister of Archbishop Hughes, was 
superior of the order when the Sisters, in December, 
1856, bought this property of Edwin Forrest, with 
the farm buildings and the castle upon it, as he had 
built them for his own residence.^ The following year 
Mother Angela commenced the new building, which 
now forms the central part of the present convent, 
overlooking the Hudson, between two and three 
hundred yards distant. This first building, with a 

■The Forrest property was part of the large farm that Captain John 
Warner, of the Eevohitionary army, bought at the sale of the confiscated 
estate of Colonel Frederick Phillipse. — Deed of Commissioners of For- 
feiture, Dec. 6, 1785. 

57 



king's bridge. 



front of two hundred and seventy feet, has by later 
additions been enlarged to more than five hundred 
feet of frontage, making a handsome brick structure, 
three stories in height, with high basement and attic 
and a lofty spire. 

Mother Angela's term of office expired in 1862 
since which date Mother Jerome and Mother Regina 
have successively ruled the order. Mother Angela 
died in 1866, Mother Regina in 1879 and Mother 
Jerome in 1885, since which date Sister M. Ambrosia, 
who, twenty-five years before, had been in charge ot 
the girls' parish school in Yonkers, then treasurer at 
Mt. St. Vincent, and subseqently the head of the 
Girls' Protectory at Westchester, and later assistant- 
mother at Mt. St. Vincent, has been the Mother 
Superior there. 

The south half of the convent building contains the 
Academy of Mt. St. Vincent, a girls' school of the 
highest class, numbering between two and three 
hundred pupils, with the philosophical apparatus and 
the appointments of a college. The pupils are 
divided into many classes, each class under the imme- 
diate charge of a Sister specially selected for her 
natural endowments and careful training. Sister 
Maria (Mary C. Dodge) ^ has long been the directress 
of the academy, subordinate to the Mother Superior. 
The academic course runs through four years, pre- 
ceded by a preparatory school for those who need it, 
and followed by a post-graduate course. 

The north half of the convent is the mother house 
of the Sisters, the residence of the Mother Superior 

1 Authoress of an interesting history of the institution. 

58 



KING S BRIDGE. 



and her assistants, with the Sisters of the academy, as 
well as those at home from the outside missions for 
needed rest or in broken health, so that there are usu- 
ally a hundred Bisters or more in the house. At the 
extreme north end is now thespacious novitiate, built 
in 1885. The institution has a hundred novices in a 
two years' course of training and probation under 
the Mother of Novices, and there are usually a 
dozen or twenty candidates for the novitiate awaiting 
admission through three months or more of proba- 
tion. 

The convent chapel, as large as a parish church, 
is in an extension to the east, nearly in the middle 
of the convent, between the Sisters' department 
and that of the pupils. The convent has a large 
number of fine paintings and works of art, and 
everything about the building is admirable for its 
neatness and good order, and the extensive grounds 
are always well kept. The carriage drive from 
the convent to the eastern entrance at Riverdale 
Avenue is about half a mile in length, and to- 
wards the west, on the Hudson, a quarter of a mile 
from the convent door, is the Mt. St. Vincent Station 
of the New York Central and Hudson River Rail- 
road, on the Sisters' own grounds. The institution is 
supplied with gas and with water from the Yonkers 
works, and is under the protection of the New York 
City police. The picturesque stone castle of Edwin 
Forrest still stands between the convent and the 
railroad station, and a part is made the dwelling of the 
chaplain of the institution. The larger rooms on the 
first floor are occupied by the museum of natural 
history, the collection of minerals being unusually 

59 



king's bridge. 



large and good/ and there is also a fine cabinet of 
coins and medals.^ 

On their own ground, on a side-street near River- 
dale Avenue, the Sisters, in 1875, built, at a cost of 
over twenty thousand dollars, "St Vincent's Free 
School," a brick building sixty by ninety feet, where 
they continue to teach, at their own cost, a free 
primary school now numbering about one hundred 
and fifty boys and girls of the vicinity. 

The residences of Edmund D. Randolph and Mr. 
B. Cuthbert adjoin this property on the south. 

MosHOLU^ is an old hamlet and post-office skirting 
the Albany post road, known early in the century as 
" Warner's," where many years ago there were a 
church (Methodist), school-house, store, blacksmith 
and wagon-shop and a cluster of dwellings. 

WooDLAWN Heights. — A village (and until re- 
cently a post-ofiice) on the Harlem Railroad, laid out 
in 1873 by George Opdyke and others on a part of the 
old Gilbert Valentine farm, in the Yonkers. E. K. 
Willard extended the village northward the same 
year to the Mile Square road on land formerly part of 
Phillipse Manor. A church and a number of small 
dwelling-houses have been erected on these plots. 

Van Cortlandt's is a station on the New York 
City and Northern Railroad, located near the old 
Van Cortlandt pond and mills. Near by are the ice- 
houses and residence of George R. Tremper. The 
historic old mansion (1748), now the residence of 
Augustus Van Cortlandt, stands a few hundred yards 

' Presented by Dr. E. S. F. Arnold, of New York. 

- Forrest purchased this estate in 1847, and called it " Font Hill." 

*So called after the Indian name of Tippett's Brook. 

/ 



ki>:g's bridge. 



northward, upon Van der Donck's ancient planting- 
field. Opposite to the car-houses, beyond the station 
is an ancient burial-place, probably that of the Betts 
and Tippett families in the seventeenth century. 

Olaff Park is a name given to about one hundred 
acres of the Van Cortland's estate, purchased and 
laid out in 1869 by W. N. Woodworth, and so called 
after the name of the ancestor of the Van Cortlandts 
in America. No improvements have been made on 
this tract except to open streets and avenues. 

WooDLAWN Cemetery.— This beautiful " city of 
the dead " consists of about four hundred acres on the 
heights of the Bronx, extending westward to an an- 
cient road, whose line is now followed by Central 
Avenue The house of Abraham Vermilye stood on 
its easterly side in 1781. Early in this century John 
Bussing, Daniel Tier, William and Abraham Valen- 
tine owned the farms of which the cemetery is now 
composed. The cemetery was organized in Decem- 
ber, 1863, and the improvement of the grounds com- 
menced in April, 1864. The first interment was made 
January 14, 1865, since which time there have been 
upwards of twenty-six thousand burials therein. 

Railroads.— The earliest was the New York and 
Harlem, along the easterly bounds, chartered May 12, 
1831 ; opened to Harlem, 1837, and to White Plains, 
1844. For nearly thirty years the nearest station was 
at Williams' Bridge. There is one now at Woodlawn. 
The Hudson River Railroad, chartered April 25, 
1831, was opened along the westerly bounds of the 
district about 1850. Stations : Spuyten Duyvil, Riv- 
erdale and Mount St. Vincent. The Spuyten Duyvil 
and Port Morris Railroad, chartered April 24, 1867, 

61 



king's bridge. 



was opened in 1871. Stations : Spuyten Duyvil and 
King's Bridge. The New York City and Northern 
Railroad was reorganized and opened in 1878. Sta- 
tions : King's Bridge and Van Cortlandt's. 

Aqueducts. — 1. The Croton aqueduct, begun 1837 
and completed 1842, passes along the brow of Valen- 
tine's, Gun and Tetard's Hills. 2, The Bronx River 
water supply, determined upon in 1879 and opened 
September 9, 1884, is carried in a forty-eight-inch 
cast-iron conduit pipe along the west side of the Bronx 
to Woodlawn and thence to the top of the hill, half a 
mile west of Williams' Bridge Station, where a distri- 
buting reservoir is located and whence thirty-six inch 
pipes distribute the water to the Twenty-third and 
Twenty-fourth Wards. 3. The new Croton supply, de- 
termined upon in 1884 and work in progress, will go 
near the old one, mostly through rock tunnel. 4. Mt. 
St. Vincent, Riverdale and Spuyten Duyvils have 
been supplied from Yonker water-works since 1882. 

Schools. — The most ancient was the French 
boarding-school of Dominie Tetard, opened in 1772. 
Early in the century there was a school-house near 
Warner's store and another on the Mile Square road, 
near Devoe's. The school-house at Mosholu (now 
Grammar No. 67) was erected about 1840. The one 
at King's Bridge (now Grammar School No. 66) was 
erected in 1872. The one at Spuyten Duyvil (now 
Primary No. 44) was erected about 1859. Primaiy 
No. 48, at Woodlawn, was established in 1880. The 
Riverdale Institute, a seminary for young ladies, and 
the boarding-school for boys at Hudsou Park have 
been closed for several years. The academy at Mount 
St. Vincent is mentioned under that head. 

rt2 



APPENDIX. 



THE O NEALE PATENT. 



A Patent graunted unto Mr. Hugh Onele, and 
Mai'y his wife. 

Eichard Nicolls Esq'r' Governour under his Roy- 
all Highnesse, the Duke of Yorke, of all his Terri- 
toryes in America, To all to whom these presents 
shall come, sendeth Greeting ; Whereas there is a 
certaine Tract of Land within this Governm't 
iipon the Maine, Bounded to the Northwards by a 
Eivolett called by the Indyans Maccakassin, so run- 
ning Southward to Nepperhane from thence to the 
Kill Shorakkapock, and then to Papiriniman, which 
is the Southermost Bounds, then to go Crosse the 
Country to the Eastward, by that which is commonly 
knowne by the name of Bronckx his River, and 
Land, which said Tract of Land, hath heretofore 
beene Purchased of the Indyan Proj^rietors by 
Adrian Vander Duncke, deceased, whose Relict, 
Mary the wife of Hugh Oneale, one of the Paten- 
tees is, and due Satisfaccon was also given for the 
same, as hath by some of the said Indyans, beene Ac- 
knowledged before mee ; Now for a further Confir- 
maCon unto them the said Hugh Oneale and Mary his 
wife. Relict of the aforesaid Adrian Vander Duncke, 
in their Possession and Enjoyment of the premises, 
63 



APPENDIX. 



Know ye that by vertne of the Commission and 
Authority given unto mee by his Boyall Highnesse, 
the Duke of Yorke, I have thought fitt to Give, 
Eatify, Confirme and Graunt, And by these presents 
do Give, Ratify Confirme and Grauut unto the said 
Hugh Oueale and Mary his wife, their heyres & as- 
signes all the afore mentioned Parcell or Tract of 
Land called Nepperhane Together with all woods, 
Marshes, Meadowes Pastures waters. Lakes, Creekes, 
Eivoletts, flashing, Hunting and ftbwling. And all 
other Profitts, Commodities and Emoluments, to the 
said Tract of Land belonging, with their and every 
of their Appurtenances, and of every part and Par- 
cell thereof ; To have and to hold the said Tract of 
Land and pr'misses, with all and Singular their Ap- 
purtenances, unto the said Hugh Oneale and Mary 
his wife, their Heires and Assignes, to the proper 
use and behoofe of the send Hiigh Oneale, and Mary 
his wife, their Heires and Assignes for ever, Hee, 
shea or they or any of them, Rendring and Paying 
such Acknowledgments and Dutyes, as are or shall 
bee Constituted and Ordained, by his Royall High-* 
nesse ye Duke of Yorke and his Heires, or such 
Governour and Governo'rs as shall from time to 
time be appointed and sett over them ; with this 
Proviso, That if at any time hereafter, his Royall 
Highnesse, his Heires, Successors or Assignes, shall 
thinke fitt to make use of any Timber for Shipping, 
or for Erecting or repairing of fibrts within this 
Government, a Liberty is resei-ved for such uses and 
purposes, to Cutt any sorts of Timber, upon any 
Implanted Grounds, on the said Tract of Land, to 
make Docks, Harbors, Wharfes, Houses, or any 

64 



APPENDIX. 



other conveniencies relating there unto, And also to 
make iise of any Elvers, Eivoletts and Inletts of 
Water, to the purposes aforesd as fully and freely, 
as if no such Patent had beene graunted ; Given 
under my hand and Seale, at ffort James in New 
Yorke, on the Island of Manhatans, the Eighth day . 
of October, in the Eighteenth yeare of the Eaigne 
of our Sovereigne Lord, Charles the Second, by the 
grace of God, of England, Scotland, ffrance and Ire- 
land King, Defender of the ffaith &c. And in the 
veare of our Lord God 1666. 

■^ ElCHAKD NiCOLLS. 

ASSIGNMENT, o'nEALE AND WIFE TO ELIAS DOUGHTY. 

[Indorsed on the Patent.] 

These Presents wittnesse that I Hugh Oueale with 

the Consent of Mary my Wife Doe Assigne and sett 

over unto my Brother in Law Elias Doughty of 

fflushing in the County of Yorkshire on Long Island 

his heirs and Assignes for Ever all my whole Eight 

title and Interest belonging to me and Mary my wife 

menconed in this Pattent as wittnesse my hand this 

thirtith Day of October 1666 Acknowledging hereby 

to have Eeceived full Sattisfaction for the same the 

Day and yeare Aforesaid. 

^ ^ Hugh Oneale. 

Maky Oneale. 
Testis Edward ffisher, John Oksanne. 

assignment, doughty to DELAVALL, PHILLIPS AND 
LEWIS. 

[Indorsed on the Patent.] 
I doe hereby Assigne and Transporte all my Eight 
Title and Interest to the within written Pattent and 
65 



APPENDIX. 



Premisses unto Thomas Delavall Esq'r' flfredrick 

Phillips Merch't and Tho. Lewis Marriner for A 

Valuable ConsideraCon. In witnesse whereof I have 

hereunto Sett my hand «fe seale this 29th Day of 

March 1672. 

Elyas Doughty (seal). 

Sealed Delivered & acknowledged before me Mat- 
thias Nicolls, Feriy'm. [Sec'y.] 

John Sharpe. 

[The above assignment, while it purports to 
transfer the " Pattent and Premisses," did not con- 
vey the whole of the latter, prior transfers of por- 
tions of the land having been made by Doughty, to 
Archer, Betts <fe Tippett, and Hadden, vt s>ib.] 

DEED, ELIAS DOUGHTY TO JOHN ARCHER. 

Eecorded for Mr. John Arch'r this 24:th day of 
September, Anno Dm 1671. 

Know all Men by these pr'sents that I Elyas 
Doughty of Flushing doe sell unto Mr. John Archer 
of West-Chest'r his Heyres & Assigns ffourescore 
Acres of Upland, and thirty Acres of Meadow lyeing 
& being betwixt Brothers Eiver and the Wateing 
Place at ye End of the Island of Manhatans, and if 
ye Land be not . fitt to Cleare for ye Plow or How, 
this Land is to lye together ; And if there be not all 
such Land together as there should, or if there 
should happen to be eight or ten Acres of Land that 
is not fitt for such Use, Then ye said Archer is to 
have it with ye rest, and hee shall have equall Eight 
and Privilege in ye Commons as any of their Men 
shall have within that Patent, that hath noe more 



APPENDIX. 



Arable Land, and ye Meadow is to be mowed all. 
As Witness my Hand this first of March 1666. As 
Wittness if there should lye any more Land, that is 
to say between "ffourty or thirty Acres, It is all in 
Common ; And I am to give ye said Archer a firme 
Bill of Sale under my Hand and Seale. 

Elias Doughty. 
Thomas Okeley. 

I Elias Doughty doe own to have received full 
Satisfaction of ye said Archer for ye said Land & 
Meadow ye House is yett to be And ye said Arcli'r 
is to have his within the above said 

Tract of Land. 

Septemb'r ye 18th 1667. 

It is to be understood that Mr. John Archer is to 
have the ffreshest Boggy Meadow that lyeth on ye 
South side of Westchester Path, within ye Patent of 
Mr. Oneale within his second of Purchase w'ch is 
upon Consideracon that ye said John Archer shall 
pay to ye said Doughty ; As Witness my Hand 

Ely AS Doughty. 

DEED, ELIAS doughty TO WILLIAM BETTS AND GEORGE 
TIPPETT. 

Recorded for George Tippett flfeb'ry 22th 1670. 

Be it knowne unto all men by theise pr'sents that 
I Elias Doughty of fflushing in ye North Ryding of 
Yorkshire on Long Island in America w'thiu ye 
Territoryes of his R. H'ss ye Duke of Yorke und'r 
ye Command of ye Rt. Hon'ble CoT Richard Nicolls 
Governo'r Gen'r'll of ye same have by vertue of ye 
Assignation of a Pattent from my brother in Law 

67 



APPENDIX, 



Mr. Hugh Oneale &. Mary his wife alienated estranged 
demised bargained & sould & do by theise presents 
alyenate estrange demise bargaine & sell a jDarte & 
parcell of that Land & meadow belonging to ye said 
Pattent for & in consideration of a considerable 
sume received &, to receive w'ch land & meadow I 
the abovesaid Doughty have sold unto William 
Betts & George Tippett who are possest of parte of 
ye same (viz't) ye said Land & meadowe w'ch was 
formerly in ye possession k occupation of old 
Youncker van der Dounckx ye planting feild belong- 
ing to ye said Purchase to be of ye North syde of 
ye said purchase, ye marked trees making mention 
of ye same, & w'ch rune wesl^ to Hudsous Ryver & 
East to Broncke his Eyver w'ch all ye Upland from 
Bronx his Byver Southward to Westchester path, 
& so runs due East & West beginning at ye boggy 
Swamp w'thin ye Libertye of ye said Pattent & ye 
Southwardmost bounds to run by ye path that 
runneth or lyeth by ye North end of ye aforesaid 
Swamp & so to run due East to Broncks his Ryver 
& dv;e west to that meadowe w'ch cometh from ye 
wading place, w'ch all ye meadowe from ye Stake 
w'ch is on ye Eastward syde of the abovesaid wad- 
ing place w'ch is now' in controversy betweene me 
ye abovesaid Doughty & some Inhabitants w'thin 
Harlem, w'ch all ye Meadow betwixt the above- 
said Stake Eastward <fc Hudsons Eyver Westward 
from ye abovesaid wading place at ye Nithermost 
end of Manhatans Island, w'th all ye Upland betwixt 
that & Hudsons River westward & so running north- 
ward to ye East & West lyne before mentioned at 
ye end of ye planting field except ye thirty Acres of 



APPENDIX. 



meadowe w'th I have sold unto Mr. John Archer 
w'ch ye abovesaid Betts and Tippett is to see 
pfourmed nnto ye abovesaid John Archer, & for 
that parcell of meadowe w'ch is now in Controversy 
betweene ye Harlem men & myselfe if it be recovered 
by them or their order they shall jjeaceably enjoy 
ye Same according to ye Tenor of ye Pattent paying 
unto me or my order Ten pounds of Current' passable 
pay according to ye custome of theise partes, & in 
Case ye same due shall be recovered then Mr. John 
Archer his proportion of Thirty Acres of Meadowe 
is to run upward by ye Island where he is to. have 
ye full complement of ye said Thirty Acres, All 
w'ch I have from myselfe my heires or any oth'r 
p'son or p'sons interested or concerned in ye said 
Pattent Sold & made over unto ye afore mentioned 
William Betts & George Tippett or eith'r of them 
their heires Executors or Assigns To have & to hold 
for over, & ye same peaceably & quietly to enjoy 
maintaining ye Same free from all Incumbrances of 
any p'son or p'sons concerned in ye Pattent Indians 
Excepted, It is to be imderstood that Mr. Archers 
Meadowe is to be laid out in Case Harlem men enjoy 
their possession at ye Stake parting ye said meadowe 
in controversye & ye other meadowe w'ch I have 
possest them of. In witnes whereof I have hereunto 
sett my hand and Seale this 6th Day of July Anno 
Dm. 1668 & in ye 20th yeare of ye Eaigne of o'r 
Sovereigne Lord Charles ye Second by ye Grace of 
God of England Scotland f franco & Ireland King 
Defender of ye faith &g. Emas Doughty. 

Signed Sealed & delivered in ye pr'sence of us John 
HoLDEN, John Hadon, John Marshall. 

69 



APPENDIX. 



DEED, ELIAS DOUGHTY TO JOHN HADDEN. 

Eecorded for Jno. Heddy, Sept. 26tli 1672. 
Bee it known unto all Men by these Presents that 
I Elyas Doughty of fllushiug in the North Riding of 
York-shire on Long Island in America w'thin ye 
TeiTitoryes of his Royall Highness the Duke of 
Yorke, under ye Command of the Right Hon'ble 
Coll. Richard Nicolls Governor Gen'all of the same, 
by vertue of the AssignaCon of a Patent from my 
Brother in Law Mr. Henry Oneale & Mary his Wife, 
have alienated, estranged, demised, bargained, & 
sold, & doe by these Presents alienate, estrange, de- 
mise, bargaine & sell unto John Heddy late of West- 
Chester w'thin the Riding, k Government above 
menConed two hundred Acres of Vpland belonging 
to the said Patent, to beginn at ye North-side of the 
Planting ffield, where ye abovesaid John Heddy shall 
see most convenient ; viz't to beginn at the West, & 
runn towards the East, the length & breadth thereof 
to bee as the Purchaser shall see most Comodious ; 
w'ch is for and in consideraCon of full Satisfaction 
already received by a Horse ; And further I the said 
Elyas Doughty doe make over and deliver unto the 
said John Heddy twenty Acres more of Vpland ad- 
joyning to the abovesaid two hundred, w'ch is all to 
beginn at the Northside of the Planting ffield belong- 
ing to William Betts and George Tippett from ye 
West end of the Land, ct to runn in length Eastward 
towards Broncks River ; And further I the above- 
said Elyas Doughty have sold unto the abovesaid 
Ino. Heddy one hundred Acres more of Vpland, ly- 
ing and being in the aforesaid Range for k in con- 
70 



APPENDIX 



sideraCon of five pounds to paid upon Bill according 
to Agreement ; All w'cli I Elyas Doughty have sold 
& made over from mee my Heyres A: Executors to 
ye said Heddy'his Heyres, Executors, Administra- 
tors or Assignes ; To have and to hold forever ; Main- 
taining the same free from any Incumbrances that 
may or shall hereafter arise from any Person or Per- 
sons laying any Clayme or Title to the same, Inter- 
ested in ye above-mentioned Patent. 

In Wittness to w'ch I have hereunto sett my Hand 
and Scale this 7th day of June in ye yeare of the 
Keigne of our Soveraigue Lord Charles ye 2d by the 
Grace of God, King of England, Scotland, tfrance & 
Ireland, Defender of the ffaith etc : 

Elias Doughtx (Seale). 
Signed Sealed & Delivered in the pr'sence of us, 

his 

George J^ Tippett. 

John Holden. mark 

Wm. Betts. Jno. Marshall. 

Endorsed on ye Deed as followeth. These may 
Certify, that ye within menCoued three hundred & 
twenty eight Acres of Land, is layd out as followeth ; 
Inprimis, Twenty eight Acres lyeing in one jjiece, 
beginning from the Market tree of Wm. Betts & 
George Tippett, from thence running due North 24 
Chayne in length ; & in breadth due East 20 chayne, 
being bounded on the South w'th the Land of Wm. 
Betts & George Tippett, ct to ye Northward West- 
ward by ye Land of Capt' Delavall ; the other two 
hundred ninety two Acres beginning at ye East- 
ward end of the twenty eight Acres, Eunning in 

71 



APPENDIX. 



length due East Eighty Chayne, & in breadth due 
North Thirty six Chayne & fifty Lincks, being 
bounded to ye Southward by the Lands of Wm. 
Betts & George Tippett ; & to ye Eastward, North- 
ward, & Westward by ye Lands of Capt' De Lavall ; 
w'ch aforemenConed Land was survey'd & layd out 
by mee as afore exprest. Given under my Hand this 
3d day of September 1672. 

ROBEET ElDEE. 
DEED, ELIAS DOUGHTY TO DEIiAVALIj AND OTHEBS. 

To all Christian People to whom this Present 
writeing shall Come Elyas Doughty of fflushing in 
North Rydeing of Yorkeshire upon Long Island send- 
eth Greeting in our Lord God Everlasting whereas 
the said EWas Doughty Standeth possest of A con- 
siderable j)orCon of a Certaiue Tract or parcell of 
Laud upon the Maine Continent within this his 
Roy'U High'ss his Governm't Commonly Called the 
Younckers Land for the which their was a Pattent 
graunted by the late Governor Coll Rich'd Nicolls 
unto Hugh Oneale and Mai\y his Wife who was the 
widdow and Relict of Adrian Yander Dunck by Vir- 
tue whereof an Assignm't and Transporte of their 
whole Right Title and Interest was for a Valuable 
ConsideraCon made by the said Hugh Oneale and 
Mary his Wife unto the said Elyas Doiighty his 
heires and Assignes together with the Originall Pat- 
tent and all the Privilidges and Perquisites there- 
unto belonging ; now know yee that the said Elyas 
Doughty for and in ConsideraCon of the sume of 
Eighty pounds or goods to the value thereof att 
mony price in hand payed or secured to be paid att 

72 



APPENDIX. 



or before the Ensealeing and Delivery hereof by 
Thomas Delavall of the City of New Yorke Esq'r' 
Fredrick Phillips of the same Citty Merch't and 
Thomas Lewia of the same place Marrin'r Doth 
hereby Acknowledge and thereof Doth acquit Exon- 
erate and Discharge them the said Thorn. Delavall, 
Fredrick Phillips and Thomas Lewis their heirs 
Executors and Adminis'tors hath given graunted, 
Aliened, bargained, Sold, Ensealed & confirmed and 
by these Presents Doth fully Cleerly and Absolutely 
give grant alien bargaine sell and Confirme unto the 
said Thomas Delavall flfredrick Phillips and Thomas 
Lewis their heires Executors Adm'r'torsand Assignes 
for ever all the Remaineing parte of that Tract or 
Parcell of Land in his DisjDosall within the Limitts 
and precincts of the Pattent Aforemenconed, Ex- 
cepting only out of the Generall Pattent Aforesaid 
within the Lymitts and jirecincts of the Patent 
Aforemenconed Excepting only out of the Generall 
Pattent afores'd what is herein Excepted That is to 
say A parcell of Land Sold by him the said Elyaa 
Doughty Vnto John Archer his heyres and Assignes 
another parcell neare Adjoyneing, sold unto Wm. 
Betts George Tippett and John Heddy as alsoe A 
Mile square of Land within the said Pattent by 
Broncks River near East Chester sold unto some of 
the Inhabitants of that i^lace. All which said par- 
cells are perticulerly sett forth with their Buttings 
and Boundings in the Respective Bills of Sale Signed 
and Delivered by the said Elyas Doughty to the 
said persons Concerned, And likewise the said Elyas 
Doughty Doth hereby Assigne and transjDorte all 
his Right title and Interest to the remaineing parte 
73 



APPENDIX. 



of the said Patteut together with the original Pafctent 
and all Deeds Writeiugs and Escripts Concerning 
the same nnto the same Thomas De Lavall flfredrick 
Phillips and Thomas Lewis their heires Executors 
Adm'st'ors and Assignes as alsoe all the Eights Roy- 
altyes Privilidges Immunityes and Proffits thereunto 
belonging or in any wise appertaineing in as amjDle 
manner as hee himselfe or the said Hugh Oneale and 
Mary his Wife held the same, To have and To hold 
the said Land and Premmisses hereby granted bar- 
gained ct Sold with their and every of their Eights 
proffitts and ApiJurtenances unto the said Thomas 
Delavall Fredrick Phillips and Thomas Lewis their 
heires and Assignes unto the proper use and behoofe 
of them the said Thomas Delavall Fredrick Phillijis 
and Thomas Lewis their heires and Assignes for 
ever. And the said Elyas Doughty for himselfe his 
heires Executors Adm'r'tors and for every of them 
Doth Covenant Promisse & Grant to and with the 
said Thomas Delavall Fredrick Phillijjs and Thomas 
Lewis their heires Executors Adm'r'tors and As- 
signes and to and w'th every of them, that they 
the said Thomas Delavall Fredrick Phillips and 
Thomas Lewis their heires and Assignes shall and 
may from henceforth for ever peaceably and quietly 
have hold use Occupy, possesse and Eujoye the said 
Land and ^jremisses before Eecited, (excepted what 
is herein Excepted) without the Lett Interrupcon 
or Contradiccon of him the said Elyas Doughty his 
heires or Assignes or of any p'rson or p'rsons Claym- 
ing from by or under him, them or any of them ; 
And that the said Land is and shall be quitt and flfree 
from any Incumbrance of Dowry or Joynture Mort- 



APPENDIX. 



gage, or former Grant, or Sale other then what is 
herein exprest and shall make good the same with 
Warranty ag't all other p'rsous whatsoever. In Tes- 
timony WhereoT hee the said Elyas Doughty Hath 
hereunto Putt his hand and Seale the twenty ninth 
Day of November in the twenty fourth Yeare of the 
Eelgne of our Sovereigne Lord Charles the Second 
by the Grace of God of England Scotland ffrance 
and Irel'd King Defend'r of the flfaith &c A'o D. 
1672. 

Sealed and Delivered in the pr'sence of Matthias 
Nicolls, John Sharpe. 

Elyas Doughty (Seale). 

BETTS AND TtPPETT PATENT. 

A ConfirmaOon of a Certaine Parcell of Land upon 
ye Maine Granted to Wm. Betts & George Tippett. 

Francis Lovelace Esq' r' &c Whereas Elyas Doughty 
of flflushing hath for a Valuable Consideration by 
Bill of Sale bearing date ye 6th day of July 1668 
convey'd & made over unto Wm. Betts k George 
Tippett late of West Chester a Certaine parcell or 
Tract of Land upon ye Maine being part of a Greater 
Quantity heretofore belonging to Adriaen Vand'r 
Donck ct Granted by Patent from Governo'r Nicolls 
to Hugh Oneale & Mary his Wife who was ye Widdow 
& Eelict of ye said Vander Donck & from them Con- 
vey'd together w'th all their Title k Interest in ye 
Premisses unto ye aboves'd Elyas Doughty his 
Heyres & Assignes; The said Parcell or Tract of 
Land Containing that piece where formerly the old 
Vander Doncks House stood together w'th ye 



APPENDIX. 

Meadow Ground & Planting ffield ye North side of 
w'ch said ffield by ye marked Trees is their North 
Bounds soe to run West to HudsonsEiver & East to 
Bronx his Eiver w'th all ye Vpland from Broncks 
his Eiver afores'd Southward to West Chest'r old 
Path & soe West to ye Meadow Ground w'ch com- 
eth from ye Wadeing Place w'th all ye Meadow from 
ye Stake to ye Eastward of ye said Wadeing Place 
& soe along as Harlem Eiver Eunns into Htidsons 
Eiver Eeserving Thirty Acres of Meadow Ground 
only out of ye said proporCon of Land unto John 
Archer according to agreem't made between him & 
ye said Elias Doughty as in the Bill of Sale afore - 
menConed is sett forth of w'ch said parcell or Tract 
of Laud A: pr'misses or ye greatest part thereof they 
ye said Wm. Betts & George Tippett or their As- 
signes are now in actuall & reall possession ; Now 
Know Yee That by vertue of ye Commission & Au- 
thority unto mee given by his Eoyall Highness I 
have Eatifyed Confirmed & Graunted & by these 
pr'sents doe Eatify Confirme <fc Graunt unto ye afore- 
named Wm. Betts ct George Tippett their Heyres & 
Assign es ye aforemenConed Parcell & Tract of Land 
Together w'th all ye Meadowes Wood Land, Past- 
ures, Marshes, Waters, Creeks, & all other Proffitts 
Comodityes, & Emolum'ts to ye said Parcell or 
Tract of Land & Premisses within ye Bounds & 
Lymitts afores'd described belonging or in any 
wise appertaining w'th all other jiarticulars & Bene- 
fitts in any Clause of their Bill of Sale made mention 
off w'th this Provisoe that what is herein Graunted 
doe noe way pr'judice ye New Towne of ffordham 
nor what hath been done by my Ord'r towards their 



APPENDIX. 



Settlem't To have & to hold all & Singular ye 
s'd Parcell & Tract of Laud & Premisses w'th their 
& every of their Appertenances to ye said Wm. 
Betts & George Tippett their Heyres & Assignes 
unto ye proper use & Behoofe of ye said Wm. Betts 
& George Tippett their Heyres & Assignes forever 
Eendring & Paying such Dutyes & Acknowledgm'ts 
As now are or hereafter shall bee Constituted & 
Establisht by ye Lawes of this Governm't under ye 
Obedience of his Eoyall Highness his Heyres & Suc- 
cessors. Given under my Hand & Sealed w'th ye 
Seale of ye Province at fforte James in New Yorke 
this 20th day of flfebr'ry. in ye 23th Yeare of the 
Reigne of o'r Soveraigne Lord the King etc. Auuoq 
Dm 1670. 

I do hereby Certify the aforegoing to be a true 
Copy of the Original Eecord Compared therewith By 
Me. Lewis A. Scott, Secretary. 

77 



INDEX. 

Aarsen, Jan. 7. 

Ackerman, William G. 53, 56. 

Albany Post Eoad, 7, 11, 16, 18, 30, 32, 33, 45. 

Allaire, Anthony, 21. 

Allen, Jacamiah, 23. 

Amusettes, 32. 

Andros, Gov'r, 15. 

Appleton, Wm. H. 47, 56. 

Aqueducts, 62. 

Archer, John (Jan Arcer), 7, 8, 15, 49, 66, 67, 73. 

Archer, Matthias, Anthony, Benjamin, 22. 

Armand, Col. 33. 

Arnold, Gen. Benedict, 19. 

Arnold, Dr. E. S. F. 60. 

Arsdan, Benjamin, 22. 

Asten, Abraham, 21. 

Atherton, H. L. 56. 

Babcock, Chakles H. P. 49. 

Babcock, Samuel D. 47, 56. 

Bailey, Nathaniel P. 31. 

Bainb ridge, Eev. Thos. 45. 

Bangs, Eev. I. D. 45. 

Barch, Eev. Thomas, 45. 

Barkius, Daniel, 49. 

Barney, Hiram, 55. 

79 



INDEX. 

Barnstable, 9. 

Barracks, 27. 

Barrett, Hannah, 10. 

Ban-ett, John, 10, 42. 

Barrett, Samuel, 10. 

Barrier Gate, 17, 32. 

Bastine, Stephen, 22. 

Bates, Martin, 47, 56. 

Battalion, The South, 21. 

Battery, King's, 31. 

Battery, The, 23. 

Beekman, 20. 

Bend, George H. 56. 

Berrien, Abraham, 53. 

Berrien, George, 21. 

Berrien, Samuel, 53. 

Berrien, Eev. William, 53. 

Berrien's Neck, 10. 

Bettner, J. E. 56. 

Betts, Alice, 9. 

Betts, Hopestill, 9. 

Betts, John, 9. 

Betts, Joseph, 44. 

Betts, Mehitable, 10. 

Betts, Samuel, 9. 

Betts, William, 9, 11, 14, 21, 22, 68, 70, 71, 73. 

Block House, 14. 

"Blue Bell" Fort, 25. 

Boar Hill, 32. 

Bolton, Eev. Cornelius W. 46. 

Boston, 16. 

Boston Post Eoad, 16, 18, 19, 20, 30. 

Bowling Green, 22. 

SOf 



Boynton, Eev. George M. 47. 

Brann, Eev. Henry A. 48, 49. 

Bridges, 14, 15, 17, 18, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35. 

Broad Street, 20. 

Broadway, 5. 

Bronck, Jonas, 2. 

Bronck's Land, 2, 13. 

Bronx, Broncks, Bronckes, Bronckx his, Broucx 

Eiver, 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 14, 81, 63. 
Bronx Heights, 28. 
Brown, Eev. A. B. 45. 
Brown, E. F. 56. 
Brown, Ezekial, Henry, 22. 
Brown, Fred'k, Gilbert, Eobert, 21. 
Brown, Eev. O. E. 45. 
Brown, Eev. Paul E. 45. 
Brown, Eev. T. James, 46. 
Browne, Hendrick, Jr., 21. 
Browning, Eev. Wm. F. 45. 
Bryant, Capt. 34, 36. 
Buckout, Matthias, 16. 
Burr, Aaron, 18. 
Burr, Eev. Charles H. 47. 
Bursen, Henry, 21. 
Bussing, John, 61. 
Bussing's Point, 51. 

Canada, 17. 
Cannon, 20, 23. 
Cammann Place, 31. 
Carpenter, Newton, 47. 
Carter, Eev. A. B. 46. 
"Causey" (Causeway), The, 14. 

81 



INDEX. 

Central Aventie, 61. 
"Charles," The, 12. 
Charleston, S. 0. 18. 
Chasseurs, 32, 39. 
Chevaiix-de-frise, 25. 
Christ Church, Riverdale, 47. 
Church du St. Esprit, 18. 
Church of the Mediator, 46. 
City Island, 17. 
Claflin, H. B. 31. 
Clevinger, George, 11. 
Clinton, Gen. 25, 26. 
Coast Survey, 29. 
Cock Hill, 13, 25. 
Cock (Cox), John, 21, 22, 23. 
Cock's (Cox) Tavern, 23. 
Cole, James, 45, 
Colendonck, 5. 
Colgate, Eobert, 46, 56. 
Colonie of Nepperhaem, 5, 42. 

Columbia College, 19, 52. 

Commissioners of Forfeiture, 49, 55, 56, 57. 

Committee of Safety, 22, 23, 26. 

Concklin, John, 10. 

Concklin, Mehitable, 10, 

Congress, Continental, 20, 22. 

Congress, Provincial, 20, 22, 24, 26, 

Connecticut, 7, 9. 

Coons, Eev. Aaron, 47. 

" Cooperstown," 55. 

Corsa, Andrew, 51. 

Corsa's Orchard, 26. 

Corton, James, 43, 

83 



INDEX, 

Cortwriglit, John, Edward, 21. 

''Cowboys," 33. 

Cox, David B. 46, 53, 54. 

Crawford, Geoi'ge, James, 21, 22. 

Crawford, William, 43. 

Cregier, John, 21. 

Cregier, Capt. Thomas, 24. 

Croft, Eev. H. 46. 

Crook, Joseph, 49. 

Cuthbert, B. 60. 

Davies, Eev. John, 45. 

Davis, Rev. A. B. 45. 

Deen, Daniel, 21, 43. 

Delafield Estate, 3. 

Delafield, Joseph, 55. 

Delafield, Lewis L. 55. 

Delafield, Maturin L. 55. 

De Lancey, Col. James, 32, 33, 41. 

De Lancey, John, 51. 

De Lancey, Thomas J. 46. 

De Lancey's Mills, 36. 

Delavall, Thomas, 11, 65. 

De Eochambeau, 41. 

Devoe, Daniel, 39, 40. 

Devoe, Frederick, 39. 

Devoe, John, 21. 

Devoe, Moses, 44. 

Devoe's Farm, 38. 

Devoe's Point, 51. 

De Vries, 4. 

De Vries, Margaret, 12. 

De Vries, Peter Eudolphus, 12. 

83 



INDEX. 

Dickenson, Eev. Leigh Eichmond, 46. 

Dobb's Ferry, 36. 

Dodd, Eev. Ira S. 47. 

Dodge, Mary C. (" Sister Maria "), 58. 

Dodge, Samuel N. 46. 

Dodge, William E. 47, 55. 

Dodge, William E., Jr. 47. 

Donop Eegiment, 32. 

Doughty, Elias, 7, 8, 9, 11, 49, 65, 66, 70, 71. 

Doughty, Eev. Francis, 6. 

Douglas, Col. 31. 

Dragoons, 39. 

Duke of York, 63, 67. 

Duke, William S. 56. 

Dutch Eef'd Church, 8, 44. 

Dyckmau, Jacob, 17, 44. 

Dyckman's Cut, 3. 

Eagleton, J. Joseph, 46. 

East Chester, 14, 16, 33, 42, 44. 

Eden, Joseph, 49. 

Eden, Medcef, 49. 

Edge Hill Chapel, 48. 

Edsall, Thomas H. 54. 

Ellison, Frances, 18. 

Ellison, Eobert, 18. 

Ely, Col. 31. 

Emmerick, Col. 32, 33, 38, 39, 40. 

Emmons, Abraham, 21. 

Emmons, Thomas, 21. 

Erb Prinz Eegiment, 32. 

Esopus, 12. 

Evans, Eev. Thomas, 45. 

84 



INDEX. 



Ewen, Daniel, 54. 
Ewen, Gen. Jolm, 55. 

Earkington, Benj., Thos., Bobt. 21. 

" Ferry," The, 12, 13, 14. 

Ferryman's Rates, 13. 

Fire Engine House, 55, 

Fire Ships, 25. 

Fisher, Edward, 65. 

Fisher, Samuel W. 45. 

Fletcher, Gov'r, 15. 

Flushing, 10. . io 

Flypsen (Phillipse), Catherine, 1^. 

Flypsen (Phillipse), Margaret, 12- 

Flypsen (Phillipse), Frederick, 11, 12, 15, i^. 

" Font Hill," 60. 

Fordham Dutch Church, 18. 

Fordham Heights, 41. 

Fordham Landing, 44. 

Fordham, Manor of, 1, 44. 

Fordham, Village of, 7, 8, 9, 11, 14, 15- 

Forrest, Edwin, 57, 59. 

Forster, George H. 56. 

Fort, " Blue Bell," 25. 

Fort, Cock Hill, 25. 

Fort Independence, 19, 21. 26, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33, 34, 

35. 36, 37, 38, 53. 
Fort, The "King's Battery," 31. 
Fort Lee, 25. 

Fort, The " Negro," 31, 33, 36. 
Fort "Number One," 29. 
Fort "Number Two," 29. 
Fort "Number Three," 21, 30. 



INDEX. 

Fort "Number Four," 21, 30, 

Fort " Number Five," 30. 

Fort "Number Six," 31. 

Fort "Number Seven," 31. 

Fort "Number Eight," 31. 

Fort on Bussing Farm, 31, 36. 

Fort Orange, 4. 

Fort Prince Charles, 21, 30, 35. 

Fort Swartwout, 26, 29. 

Fort Washington, 2, 22, 25, 28, 29, 38. 

Foster, C. W. 56. 

Fountain, Usial, 21. 

Fowler, Benjamin, 43. 

Fowler, John, 23. 

Fowler, Jonathan, 22. 

Franklin, E. L. 56. 

Free Bridge, The, 17, 18, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35. 

French, Annetje, 12. 

French Boarding School, 18. 

French, Philip, 12. 

Fry, Eev. William, 48. 

Fuller, Joseph W. 53. 

Gage, Lady, 23. 

Gallahue, Eev. A. C. 46. 

Geer, William H. 53, 

"General Putnam," Schooner, 24. 

George III., Statue of, 22. 

George's Point, 16. 

German Eegiments, 32. 

Gibson, Edwin P. 46. 

Giles, Wm. Ogden, 19, 30, 46, 53. 

Gist, Col. 38, 40. 



IJTDEX. 

Godwin, Joseph H. 46, 52. 
Goodridge, Frederick, 2, 47, 56. 
Graham, Col. 26. 
Grammar School, 62. 
Green, Isaac, 21, 22. 
Green, Rev. John C. 45. 
Green, William, 21, 22. 
Greene, Gen. 28. 
Guereneau, John, 22. 
Gun Hill, 62. 

Hadden (Hadon, Heddy, Hedger), John, 11, 14, 42, 

69, 70, 73. 
Hadley, George, 22, 53, 56. 
Hadley, Isaac, 21. 
Hadley, Joseph, 10, 16, 21, 42. 
Hadley, Mehitable, 10. 
Hadley, William, 21, 22, 43, 44, 55. 
" Half Moon," The, 13. 
Halsey, Daniel, 49. 
Halsey's Tavern, 49. 
Hardenbrook, Margaret, 12. 
Harlem, 10, 13. 
Harlem River, 1, 25. 
Harriman, Laura, 56. 
Haskin, John B. 31. 
Hatfield, Rev. Henry, 45. 
Hayden, James A. 55. 
Heath, Gen. 25, 26, 31, 33, 34, 36, 37. 
Hebard, Rev. E. 45. 
Heights, 1, 9, 40, 41. 
Hessians, 28, 32. 
High Bridge, 8. 

87 



IXDEX. 

Hills, 2, 7, 10, 13, 21, 25, 26, 29, 32. 

Hitchcock, Mehitable, 10. 

Hitchcock, Samiiel, 10. 

Holdeu, John, 69, 71. 

Hollaud, 5, 12. 

Hollister, Thompson N. 47. 

Holt, George C. 54. 

Honeywell, Israel, 45. 

Howe, Gen. 27, 31. 

Hoyt, Eev. Philip L. 45. 

Hudson, Henry, 3. 

Hudson Park, 9. 

Hudson Eiver, 1, 2, 5, 8, 9, 29. 

Hughes, Archbishoi), 57. 

Hughes, Mother Angela, 57. 

Humphreys, Eev. Humphrey, 45. 

Hunt, David, 43. 

Husted's Heights, 40, 41. 

Hutching, Waldo, 32, 55. 

Hyatt's Tavern, 20, 21, 35. 

Indian Castle, 3. 
" Indian Fields," The, 41. 
Iron Foundry, 54. 
Irving, Washington, 13. 
Island, 2, 3. 

James, D. Willis, 56. 

Janes, Bishop, 48. 

Jerome, Mother, 58. 

Johnson, Elias, 53, 54. 

Johnson, Gilbert, 54. 

Johnson, Isaac G. 46, 47, 48, 54. 



INDEX. 

Jones, William, 42. 
"Jonker," 1. 

Kellogg, David B. 47. 

Kelly, Eev. E. H. 45, 48. 

Kern, Eev. J. O. 48. 

Keskeskick, 4. 

Keyes, Eev. Charles C. 4.5. 

Kieft, 4. 

" King's Battery," 31. 

King's Bridge, Tlie, 14, 15, 17, 18. 

King's Bridge Hotel, 17. 

King's Bridge Marble, 3. 

King's Ferry, 28. 

King Philip's War, 14. 

Knight, Madame, 16. 

Knowlton, George W. 47. 

Knyphausen, Gen. 28, 29. 

Knyphausen Eegiment, 32. 

"Koop-al," Jan. 7. 

" Labadists," The, 12. 
Lake, 2. 

Langdon, Jervis, 53. 
Langdon Eolling Mill Co. 53. 
Lasher, Col. 28. 
Lausanne, University of, 18. 
Lawrence, John C. 45. 
Lawrence, Samuel, 22, 24. 
Laws, Eev. Gnstav, 48. 
Leib Eegiment, 32. 
Lent, Abraham, Jr. 49. 
Lent, Eev. Isaac H. 48. 



INDEX. 

Lewis, Thomas, 11, 65. 
Lexington, 20. 
Leyden, 4. 
Lime Kilns, 3. 
Lincoln, Gen. 33, 34, 36, 38. 
Livingston, Janet, 19. 
Llonart, 56. 
Long Island, 26. 
Lord, Eev. William E. 47. 
Losberg Kegiment, 32. 
Lothrop, Eev. Mr. 9. 
Lounsbeiy, Henry E. 54. 
Lounsbery, William, 23. 
Lovelace, Gov. Francis, 9, 11. 
" Lovers' Lane," 39. 
Lovett, Eev. Noble, 45. 
"Lower Cortlandts," 32. 
" Lower Mills," 44. 
Lowther, Eev. S. 48. 

McCoRMicK, Eev. D. 48. 

Maccakassin, Macackesin, 7, 63. 

Macomb, Alexander, 49. 

Macomb, Mary 0. P. 52. 

Macomb, Eobert, 51, 52. 

Macomb, Gen. 52. 

Macomb's Mill, 51, 52. 

Macomb's Mountains (Adirondacks), 51. 

Macomb Street, 14. 

Macomb's Dam, 51. 

"Maine," The, 13, 15. 

Mali, H. W. T. 31. 

Mamaroneckj 23. 

90 



INDEX. 

Manetto, 4. 

Manhattan Island, 2, 3, 6, 10, 13, 28, 29. 

Manor of Fordham, 1, 8. 

Manor of PKillipsburgh, 12, 42, 43, 49, 55, 56. 

Marshall, John, 69, 71. 

Martin, Monsieur, 26. 

Maryland, 11. 

Merrill, Thomas, 21. 

Merson, L. O. 48. 

Methodist Church, 44. 

Micena, Eev. Fr. 48. 

Mifflin, Gen. 24. 

Mile Square, 11, 43. 

Mile Square Eoad, 32, 38, 43, 60, 62. 

Mill Creek, 2. 

Mills, 5, 32, 51, 52. 

Mirback Regiment, 32. 

Moller, George, 53. 

Montgomery, Gen. Eichard, 19, 20, 30. 

Montressor, Col. 23, 37. 

Montressor's (Eandall's) Island, 37. 

Moore, Jacob, 22. 

Moore's Tavern, 22. 

Morris, Augustus F. 54. 

Morrisania, 2, 37. 

Morrison, David M. 54. 

Mosholu, 2, 9, 31, 44, 45, 54, 60, 62. 

Mott, John, 46, 47. 

Mount St. Vincent, 1, 12, 25, 56. 

Munro, James, 21. 

Muscoote, 6. 

Muskota, 7. 

Myers, T. Bailey, 46. 

91 



INDEX. 

Nepekan, 7. 

Nepperliaem Colonie, 5. 
Nepperhaem Eiver, 4, 63. 
Nepperliaem Tract, 5. 
New Amsterdam, 5, 6, 12. 
New Castle, 36. 
New Jersey, Palisades of, 2. 
New Eochelle, 28, 33. 
New York, 1, 2, 7, 15. 
New York City & Northern E. E. 60. 
New York- "Gazetteer," The, 19. 
New York & Harlem E. E. 61. 
New York Hydraulic M'f'g & Bridge Co. 52. 
Nicholas, Col. 26. 
Nicholls, Perkins, 3, 52. 
. Nicoll, Sec'y Matthias, 8, 49, 75. 
Nicoll,' Gov'r Eichard, 6, 8, 63, 65, 67. 
Nieuwhoff, 7. 
Nieiiw Netherland, 6. 
Nimham, 39, 41. 
Nixon, Eev. Cyrus, 46. 
Nodine, Andrew, 43. 
Norris, Henry, 22. 
Norris, Jordan, 22. 

Oakley, Da\td, 43. 
Oakley, David, Jr. 22. 
Oakley, Joseph, Jr. 21. 
Oakley, Moses, 22. 
Oakley, Thomas, 21. 
Odell, Abraham, 21. 
Odell, Isaac, 43. 
Odell, John, 21. 

92 



INDEX, 

Okeley, Thomas, 67, 

Oksanne, Joliu, 65. 

Olaff Park, 9, 61. 

Oklnn,Eev.'E. 45. 

O'Neale, Hugh, 6, 7, 63, 65. 

O'Neale, Mrs. Hugh, 6, 7, 11, 63, 65. 

O'Neale Patent, 7, 8, 11. 

O'Neill, Eev. Fr. 48. 

Oost-Dorp, 7, 9. 

Orange, Fort, 4. 

Ostrauder, Eev. A. 46. 

Opdyke, George, 60, 

Oudinot, E. S. 48. 

Pack AMIENS, 4. 

Palisades of New Jersey, 2. 

Palmer, Benjamin, 17. 

Paparinamin, \ 

Papirinimin, t 7, 9, 12, 18, 14, 17, 28, 49, 51, 63. 

Pappereueman, )• 

Parker, James, 21. 

Park, The Eiverdale, 56. 

Parsons, Gen. 34. 

Parsons, M.D. John, 53. 

Patents, 7, 8, 11. 

Paulding, Col. 26. 

Paulus Hook, 26. 

Peck, Eev. E. M. 47. 

Perry, Eev. Salmon C. 45. 

Petrie, George H. 54. 

Phillipsburgh, 1. 

Phillipsburgh Manor, 12, 60. 

Phillipse, Adolphus, 12. 



INDEX, 

Pliillipse, Annetje, 12. 

Phillipse (Flypsen), Catlierine, 12. 

Phillipse, Eva, 12. 

Phillipse, Col. Frederick, 16, 17, 19, 49, 57. 

Phillipse (Flypsen), Frederick, 11, 12, 65. 

Phillipse 2d,' Frederick, 12, 15. 

Phillipse (Flypsen), Margaret, 12. 

Phillipse's Mills, 32. 

" Phoenix," The, 25. 

Plantation, The Yonkers, 1. 

" Planting Field," Vander Donck's, 5, 9. 

Plested, Eev. Wm. 46. 

Poe, Edgar Allan, 52. 

Point, 3. 

Pontoon Bridge, 30. 

Post, Abraham, 21, 24. 

Post, Dennis, 21, 24. 

Post, Hendrick, 43. 

Post, Isaac, 21, 24. 

Post, Israel, 21, 24. 

Post, Jacob, 21, 24. 

Post, Lewis, 21, 24. 

Post, Martin, 21, 24. 

Post, William, 21, 24. 

Post Eiders, 17. 

Post Roads, 7, 11, 16, 18, 19, 20, 30, 32, 33, 45. 

Potter, Et. Eev. Horatio, 46. 

Powder Magazine, The old, 18. 

Prince, William Henry, 41. 

Prinz Carl Eegiment, 32. 

Pusher, Henry, 21. 

Putnam, Albert E. 54. 

Pyne, Moses Taylor, 56. 

94 



INDEX. 

Pyne, Percy E. 47, 

Quebec, 19. 
Queen's Eangers, 39. 
Quimby, 8. 

Eamsey, John, 49, 
Eanclolph, Edmund D. 60. 
Eanelagh, Sarah, Viscoiantess, 19. 
Eangers, 32. 
Eawdon, Lord, 32. 
Eechgawac, 4. 
Eegiments, 32. 
Eegina, Mother, '58. 
Eennselaerswyck, 4. 
Eenwick, Prof. James, 52. 
Eevohitionary War, 18, 19. 
Ehinebeck, 19. 
Eich, Abraham, 22. 
Eich, James, 22. 
Eich, Thomas, 22, 42. 
Eickman, Tobias, 21. 

Eider, Eobert, 72. 

Eidge, 2, 3. 

Eiker, James, 13. 

Eiverdale, 2, 12. 

Eiverdale Institute, 62. 

Eiverdale Presbyterian Church, 46. 

Eiverdale Eoad, 29. 

Eogers, Col. 33, 

"Eose,"The, 24, 25. 

Eose, William, 21. 

Eoss, Major, 40, 

95 



Eyer, Edward, 21. 
Eyer, Jolin, 21. 
Eyder, Jacob, 42. 
Eyder, John, 43, 

Sage, Wakken B. 29, 30, 47, 54. 
Sautliier's Map, 29. 
Saw Kill, 4, 16. 
Scliermerliorn, A. 56. 
Scliools, 18. 
Schuyler, Gen. 18. 
Schwab, Gustav, 31. 
Scituate, 9. 
Scott, Gen. 33, 38. 
Scott, Lewis A. 77. 
Scrymser, James, 47. 
Sealey, Benjamin T. 53. 
Seaman, Eev. E. 45. 
Sebring, 20. 

Segur, Eev. Fred'k W. 45. 
Sergeant, Joseph E. 54. 
Sharpe, John, 66, 75. 
Sherwood, Jeremiah, 43. 
Sherwood, Thomas, 42, 43, 
Shorack-Kappock, 3, 63. 
Shrader, Eev. Dr. 48. 
Shrive, Eev. J. G. 45. 
Sidney, James C. 46. 
Sietz Eegiment, 32. 
Silleck, Eev. John A. 45. 
Simcoe, Lt. Col. 32, 39, 40. 
Sisters of Charity, 56. 
" Skinners," 33. 

1)6 



Smith, Edward, 42. 

Smith, Eev. E. 45. 

Smith, Francis, 21. 

Smith, Henry M. 54. 

Smith, Eussell, 46. 

Smith, William, 11. 

Smith, Eev. W. H. 46. 

"Sons of Liberty," 23. 

Sorqnapp, 7. 

Spanish Bell, 56. 

Spaulding, Henry F. 47, 56. 

Sirring Street, 30. 

Spuyteu Duyvil (" Spiting Devil "), 9, 13, 1.5. 

Spuyten Duyvil Creek, 1, 2, 5, 25, 29. 

Spuyten Duyvil Neck, 10, 29. 

Spuyten Duyvil Point, 3, 53. 

Spuyten Duyvil Eidge, 2, 3, 30, 35. 

Spuyten Duyvil & Port Morris E. E. 61. 

St. Elizabeth's Church, 49. 

St. John's Benevolent Society, 48. 

St. John's Church, 44, 48. 

St. Patrick's Temperance Society, 48. 

St. Vincent's Free School, 60. 

Stage Coach, 17. 

States General, 5. 

Stebbins, Eev. Henry H. 47. 

Steenwyck, Cornells, 8. 

Stevenson, Edward, 43. 

Stewart, Col. 40. 

Stockbridge Indians, 38, 39. 

Stone, Henry L. 47, 56. 

Strang, Peter O. 29. 

Strang, Mrs. 54. 

97 



streets, 5, 14, 20, 30. 
Stuyvesaut, Peter, 5, 6, 9, 12. 
Swartwout, Col. 26. 

Taeleton, Lt. Col. 39, 40, 41. 

Taiieton, Eev. W. 46. 

Tarrytown, 33. 

Tasker, Eev. David, 47. 

Taverns, 17, 20, 21, 22, 23, 32, 35, 49. 

Taylor, Charles, 21. 

Taylor, Elnathan, Jr. 21. 

Taylor, Elijah, 21. 

Taylor, Henry, 21. 

Taylor, Jacob, 21. 

Taylor, Josei^h, 42. 

Taylor, Moses, 42, 43. 

Ten Broeck, Gen. 38. 

Tequemet, 4. 

Tetard, Rev. John Peter, 18, 62. 

Tetard's Farm, 19, 31, 33. 

Tetard's Hill, 7, 21, 28, 29, 30, 32, 41, 62. 

Thomas, Col. 26. 

Thompson, Wm. W. 47. 

Thomson, Samuel, 54, 55. 

Thorn's Dock, 9. . 

Throg's Neck, 27. 

Tier, Daniel, 61. 

Tippett, Dorcas, 10, 53. 

Tippett, George, 2, 9, 10, 11, 14, 42, 49, 53, 67, 70, 

71, 73. 
Tippett 2d, George, 16. 
Tippett, Henry, 10. 
Tippett, James, 53. 

9S 



INDEX. 

Tippett, Martha, 33. 

Tippett, Mehitable, 10. 

Tippett, Thomas, 22, 53. 

Tippett, William, 53. 

Tippett's ("Tibbitt's") Brook, 2, 10, 16, 40, 51, 52. 

Tippett's Hill, 10, 21, 25, 26, 29, 32, 36, 41. 

Tremper, George R. 60. 

Trimback Regiment, 32. 

Trinity Parish, 53. 

Tolls, 13, 15, 18. 

Totten, Col. 52. 

Townsend, Lord, 23. 

IJNDERHILIi, IZARELL, 21. 

"Upper Cortlandts," 32, 55. 

Valentine, Abraham, 46. 

Valentine, Daniel, 46. 

Valentine, Gilbert, 60. 

Valentine, Isaac, 23, 33, 36, 51. 

Valentine, John, 51. 

Valentine, Matthias, 42, 51. 

Valentine, William, 61. 

Valentine's Hill, 32, 41, 62. 

Valentine's House, 33, 36. 

Valentine's Ridge, 2. 

Van Cortlandt, Augustus, 23, 44, 46, 51, 54, 60. 

Van Cortlandt, Catherine, 12. 

Van Cortlandt Estate, 5, 11, 16, 61. 

Van Cortlandt, Eva, 12. 

Van Cortlandt, Frederick, 20, 21, 32, 54. 

Van Cortlandt, Jacobus, 1, 5, 15. 

Van Cortlandt, Col. James, 20, 21, 23, 32, 33, 43, 55. 

Van Cortlandt Lake, 2. 

99 



INDEX. 

Van Cortlandt Mansion, 14, 41. 

Van Cortlandt's Ridge, 1. 

"VanCorfclandt's," 9, 60. 

Van Cortlandt's Mills, 5. 

" Van Cortlandt's " Woods, 39, 40, 41. 

Van Conrtlandt Vault, 23. 

Vander Donck, Dr. Adraien ("Vander Duncke "), 

1, 4. 8, 51, GO, G3. 
Vander Donck, Cornells, 6. 
Vander Donck's Bowerie, 6, 9. 
Vander Donck's House, 5, 75. 
Vander Donck's "Planting Field," 5, 9, 11, 01. 
Van Gaasbeck, Rev. D. W. C. 48. 
Van Tassell, Caleb, 45. 
Varian, Jacob, 45. 
Varian Jacob H. 45. 
Varian, WiUiam A., M.D. 53. 
Vault Hill, 2, 5, 23. 
Vermilye, Abrm. 21, 61. 
Vermilve, Fred'k, 21, 61. 
Vermilye, Isaac, 44, 51. 
Vermilye, Joshua, 21, 61. 
Vermilye, Petrus, 18. 
Vermilye, Thomas, 17. 
Vei-veelen, Daniel, 14. 
Verveelen, Johannes, 13, 14, 49, 
Vincent, Charles, 42. 
Virginia, 31. 
Vitrey, Lewis, 10, 49. 
Vitrey, Mehitable, 10, 49. 
Von Hanger, Capt. 32. 
Von Pfister, Alexander, 49. 
Von Wurmb, Lt. Col. 32, 33. 
100 



INDEX. 

"Wading Place," The, 4, 13. 

Waldeckers, 28. 

Warner, Charles, 43, 53. 

Warner, John, 21, 22, 24, 43, 44, 56. 

Warner, William, 21, 22, 24, 43, 44, 56. 

Warner's Store, 45, 62. 

Ward, The 23d, 2. 

Washington, Fort, 2. 

Washington, Gen. George, 24, 27, 31, 35, 41. 

Watch House, 32. 

Weckqnaeskeek, 3. 

Weeks, Edward, 43. 

Wertz, George, 22. 

Westchester, 7, 9, 10, 11. 

Westchester County, 12, 

Westchester Path, 7, 16. 

West Farms, 1, 2. 

West India Company, 5, 12. 

Wetmore, William C. 54. 

Wheatly, Eev. Eichard, 45. 

White Plains, 1, 19, 28, 31. 

Whiting Estate, 3. 

W^hiting, James E. 46, 54, 55. 

Wickerscreek Indians, 3. 

Wiessenback Eegiment, 32. 

Wildes, Eev. George D. 47. 

Willard, E. K. 48, 60. 

WilHams Bridge, 31, 36. 

Williams' House, 23, 33, 37. 

Williams, Samuel, 22. 

Wilson, Eev. William T. 46, 53. 

" Wine Cellar," Dominie Tetard's, 18. 

Woelwarth Eegiment, 32. 

101 



Wood, Abraliam, 45. 
Woodlawn Cemeteiy, 9, 61. 
Woodlawn Heights, 2, 9, 12, 38, 39, 60. 
Woodlawn Methodist Church, 48. 
Woodworth, W. W. 56, 61. 
Wooster, Gen. 34, 38. 
Wright, Orderly, 41. 
Wright, Eev. Daniel I. 45. 

YONKEES, \ 

Younckers, V 1, 2, 4, 9, 10, 12, 14, 19, etc. 

Younkers, ) 

Yonkers Episcopal Society, 44. 

Yonkers Plantation, The, 1, 16. 

Yonkers Precinct, 42. 

Yonkers Eiver, 2, 52. 

Yorkshire, North Eiding of, 42. 

102 



ivIAR B5 190D 



